


Free Parenting - Blue Days

by JackieWepps



Series: Free Parenting [3]
Category: Free!
Genre: Conflict, Family, Friendship, Gen, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-01
Updated: 2016-10-16
Packaged: 2018-08-12 09:36:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 39
Words: 53,965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7929736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JackieWepps/pseuds/JackieWepps
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Makoto adopted Rei and Nagisa at the age of 26 years old, they moved from Iwatobi to Tokyo, with Rin and Haruka, when Makoto was 34 years old. But what happened during those 9 years?<br/>One thing can be said for sure: Those 9 years weren't boring at all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Part-Timer

Makoto had seen it in the paper the other day. The local Swimming club was in search of a new coach for a small class. It would only be an hour’s lesson. He had gone to speak to the owner about the job yesterday and been told that no one else had come to ask about it. Then Makoto had asked if he could get the job.

“Sure you can have it,” the owner had said. “You seem like a kind person. How much experience do you have?” he then had asked.

“Not much, I was part of the school swim team in middle school and high school, but I have never taught swimming before,” Makoto said.

“Well…” The owner had suddenly looked a bit more unsure about the whole thing. “If no one with experience shows up by tomorrow, you’ll be hired,” he said.

* * *

 

Makoto entered the house he lived in by himself. He was tired after studying all day at the hospital. It would only be until next week he would study there. Then he would be back in school to learn the last few things before his exam.

He had just taken off his shoes when the phone started ringing and Makoto went in to pick it up, wondering who would call him at a time like this. It couldn’t be his parents. They were very careful about calling him at times when he wasn’t tired out from educating. But it could be one of his siblings. They never seemed to care about that.

“Hello, Tachibana speaking,” Makoto said as he picked up the phone.

“Ah, Tachibana-san,” It was the owner of the swimming club. “It’s Aoyama here. Remember that coaching job you asked about the other day?” he asked.

“Yeah?” Makoto said. “What about that?” he asked.

“Nothing much. It turns out no one came to claim it, at least only people with less experiences than yourself. Now, I checked out your situation and learned that you are studying to become a doctor,” he said.

“What about that?” Makoto asked.

“I just want to know if you still think you can handle it. I have heard the study is tough,” he said.

Makoto smiled. “I’m sure it’ll be just fine,” he said. “It will be nice to be the one teaching. Besides, I haven’t had the chance of being in the water for a while myself, so I’ll look forward to it,” he said.

“Very good then. You’ll start working on Monday. I will see you then,” the man said before hanging up.

Makoto smiled as he put the phone down. It was only now that he realized he had actually been hoping to get the job. It felt good that he had been hired for it.

* * *

 

It was one of the more cold days of October. Makoto was waiting on the bus that was to take him to his education-place. Today was a special day actually. When Makoto finished school he would have to go to his part time job as a swim coach and teach some kids how to swim.

The bus stopped now and Makoto boarded it. Today the bus was full of people and Makoto couldn’t find a free spot until a blue-haired boy with glasses pulled the blonde boy sitting next to him, closer, leaving a free seat for Makoto who gladly took the opportunity.

“Thanks a lot,” Makoto smiled at the boy.

“It’s no trouble,” The boy said and to this the blonde whined.

“I was sleeping there, Rei-chan!”

The blue-haired said nothing, he just pulled out a red lollipop and handed it to the blonde boy, who soon lit up and stuffed the lollipop into his mouth with a satisfied expression on his face.

Makoto found himself to be amused by the pair. He had never met anyone like those two before and he was sure that he most likely wouldn’t meet anyone like them ever again.

Oddly enough, as soon as Makoto had gotten off the bus, he had already forgotten most about the two. They didn’t cross his mind at all while he was taking classes. So far, nothing hinted to the huge impact these two would have on his life in the near future.

* * *

 

Makoto entered the swim club that afternoon. He found the leader and got his instructions. It was simple enough. He was to just teach a small class of kids how to swim and let that be it. He got a list of names of the kids he’d be teaching and looked it over. None really stood out to him.

Makoto went out and met his swim-class. There were seven kids in total. Four boys and three girls. One of the boys looked familiar to him, but he couldn’t figure out why that was at the moment. It was a blonde boy with round, magenta eyes. He was smaller than the others, and by far the most cheerful looking one of them.

Makoto called out the names of the kids and learned that the blonde boy’s name was Hazuki Nagisa. It still didn’t help him remember where he’d seen the boy before. He decided to push it aside and just teach his class.

“Your name’s Nagisa?” one of the boys asked the blonde in a slightly mocking tone.

“Yours is Mikio,” the blonde answered in return.

“Your name is girly,” The boy stated.

“Your name sounds like Mickey Mouse with an O in the end,” Nagisa shot back while smiling. “What about it?” he said then, like he had done nothing wrong.

The other boy didn’t say anything else, neither did the rest. Makoto found himself amused by the small conversation but as the kids engaged in lighthearted conversations again, he found himself going back to wondering where he had seen the blonde boy before.

It was afterwards that he remembered where he’d seen the boy before. He was talking to the parents of the kids in the class when a blue-haired boy with glasses entered the swim club and was greeted by a loud cry from the blonde boy.

“Rei-chan!” the blonde yelled as he ran up and hugged the older boy. Now Makoto remembered that he had met those two on the bus that same morning and he only remembered because of the blonde boy’s nickname for the blue-haired. Rei was a girl’s name wasn’t it? But so was the name Nagisa so it wasn’t too surprising when Makoto thought about it.

“Those two are really sweet, aren’t they?” a woman asked another.

“I’ve heard they’re both orphans,” the woman answered.

“I won’t mind adopting them,” the first woman said.

“Drop that idea,” a third interrupted the conversation. I tried to have the blue-haired over once and he just dragged the blonde one along,” she sighed. “That kid is more trouble than they are both worth,”

Makoto watched as Rei grabbed Nagisa’s hand and they walked out together. From what he could guess Rei was about eight years old and Nagisa couldn’t be a day older than five years old. It was kinda sad that they’d got such a bad reputation in such a young age.

“Where are they from?” Makoto asked.

“Iwatobi Adopting Center,” The third woman said.

Makoto nodded and thanked her. Shortly after then he left the club and walked home in deep thoughts. Maybe he should do some digging about that orphanage. And especially about those kids too.

But thanks to exams drawing nearer and Makoto getting more things to teach the class, he didn’t get the time to find out anything about Rei and Nagisa. He got the idea of talking to the two after a while, but he seemed to forget it when he finally got the chance.

Determination could be good, but when you were stuck with too many things on your hands, even that seemed to be forgotten.


	2. Invitation

There was swimming every day. Thankfully Makoto only had one class. He took his time watching Nagisa and Rei. It was every day after swimming that Rei would come to take Nagisa home. It was a sight that Makoto soon learned to adjust to. He hadn’t seen them on the bus since that first day.

“Hazuki-kun,” Makoto called after the 10th swimming lesson. Nagisa stopped and turned to look at Makoto.

“What is it Coach Tachibana-chan?” he asked.

“Why is it always that other boy who picks you up?” Makoto asked. “Shouldn’t a grown up do it instead?”

Nagisa shook his head. “Rei-chan’s like a brother to me. He is more like family than any grown-up could ever be,” the boy explained. “He’s always looking out for me,”

“For how long have you two known each other?” Makoto asked.

“I don’t know…” Nagisa got a thoughtful look on his face. “I can’t remember a time when Rei-chan and I weren’t around each other,”

Makoto nodded and let the boy go shower and change. He went out and was about to leave the swim club when he noticed Rei enter the building and Nagisa ran up to him as always.

“Rei-chan, for how long have we known each other?” Nagisa asked.

“Why do you suddenly want to know?” Rei asked.

“Coach Tachibana-chan asked,” Nagisa pointed at Makoto and Rei grabbed Nagisa’s pointing hand.

“It’s not nice to point at others like that!” Rei instructed the boy. Then he looked at Makoto. “Why do you want to know, Tachibana-chan-san?” he asked.

Makoto fought back laughter before answering. “I was just curious,”

“I guess we were brought in by the same time, four years ago,” Rei said. “I just took responsibility for him and we’ve stuck together ever since,”

“That’s right!” Nagisa exclaimed even if he had no clue if it was or not.

Makoto smiled at the pair. He’d like to get to know them better. “Who do I have to ask to have the two of you over for dinner someday?” Makoto asked Rei.

“I don’t know,” Rei asked. “Someone from the staff?”

Makoto nodded. Then he let the boys go home.

* * *

 

The following day, Makoto went to Iwatobi Adopting Center and went to speak to one of the staff members. Her name was Maruyama. He told her why he had come there and what he wanted and she smiled at him. A few winkles could be seen at the corners of her eyes.

“You do know what people say, especially about Hazuki-kun, right?” she asked.

“That they are more trouble than they’re both worth,” Makoto answered. “I have.” He then confirmed. “That’s the reason why I want to try and have them over. I’m sure they can’t be as bad as everyone says.” he said this while smiling at Maruyama who smiled even more.

“That’s an interesting approach indeed,” she said. “If you are aware then I see no need of warning you further. But now remember that I did warn you about it. You’ll be picking them up here on Saturday afternoon at five,” she said.

“Yes,” Makoto answered. “I’ll be sure to be there,” he assured her.

* * *

 

And so, Makoto was at Iwatobi Adopting Center on the following Saturday at four forty-five, to make sure that he would pick up Rei and Nagisa on time. The two were already waiting for him, sitting on the stairs in the hall as Makoto entered.

“Coach Tachibana-chan!” Nagisa exclaimed as he saw Makoto coming in.

“Hello, Hazuki-kun,” Makoto answered.

“Are we going to your place, Tachibana-san?” Rei asked, now finally getting the honorifics correctly.

“Yes,” Makoto smiled. “I’m curious about the two of you,” he said.

Maruyama came down the stairs. “Good to see you, Tachibana-san,” she said as she saw Makoto. “I’m glad you could make it. You may leave now if you want,” she said.

“Thank you, Maruyama-san,” Makoto answered her before he turned towards Rei and Nagisa. “Are you two coming, Hazuki-kun, Ryugazaki-kun?” he asked.

“Yes!” Both children exclaimed and Nagisa grabbed Makoto’s right hand without hesitation before Makoto could manage to do anything else.

“Nagisa-kun!” Rei exclaimed.

“What is it?” Nagisa asked.

“It’s not polite to just hold another person’s hand like that,” Rei instructed the younger.

Makoto chuckled. “It’s okay,” he said, shaking the surprise off. “I don’t mind this.” And with those words, he led the two children out of the orphanage.

* * *

 

“WOW! Your place is huge, Coach Tachibana-chan!” Nagisa exclaimed once he saw the house Makoto was living in. Makoto would agree with him. The house was fairly big for one person to live in alone.

“I’m not your coach here,” Makoto said, instead of voicing his agreement.

“So, Tachibana-chan?” Nagisa asked.

Makoto smiled. “Yeah, that’s okay for now,” he said.

They walked into the house and Rei and Nagisa both looked around. Nagisa wanted to look further into the house, but Rei stopped him, saying that it was impolite, seeing as they were only guests at the moment.

“Do you want us to help out with anything, Tachibana-san?” Rei asked.

Makoto thought about that. “Not unless you want to,” he answered. “I’m afraid I haven’t got any toys or anything like that. You can perhaps find some paper and crayons if you want to draw. That’s probably the most interesting I can come up with,” Makoto said.

“That’s fine,” Rei said.

“Where are they?” Nagisa asked.

“Hold on,” Makoto said before he went and grabbed both paper and crayons from a drawer and put it on the dining table in the living room. “Here you are,” he said and stood up. “I will get dinner started. You two just wait until then,” he said before heading to the kitchen.

The three of them sat around the table and ate about an hour later. Makoto was upholding a cheerful conversation about what Nagisa and Rei were normally doing. He was especially curious about Rei’s interest, since he knew nothing of them so far.

“Eat properly!” Rei demanded at Nagisa.

Makoto looked to Nagisa as well. He had already noticed that Nagisa’s table manners could use a lot of work, but he hadn’t mentioned it.

“You’re holding your chopsticks wrong too, Rei-chan!” Nagisa declared before sticking his chopsticks into the bowl of sauce, splattering it everywhere.

Makoto sighed. “Hazuki-kun, look here,” he said. He then showed Nagisa how to hold the chopsticks properly and then showed the same to Rei. He always kept a gentle smile on his face while doing it.

“You’re very kind, Tachibana-san,” Rei commented.

Makoto looked surprised at him. “Thank you,” he then said.

They sat and ate for a little while longer, and then Nagisa declared that he was full. Rei also said that he couldn’t eat another bite and Makoto was satisfied with this result. He was happy that the two had liked his food. He had never cooked for anyone other than his closest family and himself.

“Hazuki-kun!” Makoto exclaimed. “You’ve got some sauce on your face,” he said.

“Where?” Nagisa asked.

Makoto got up and found a small napkin. He sat down next to Nagisa and started wiping it off. He looked from Nagisa to Rei and then decided to voice something he had been thinking about for a little while now.

“I think we should call each other by first names,” he said. “If you want to continue to come here for dinner on every Saturday. Just in here,” he said.

“I don’t mind,” Rei said.

“Good,” Makoto smiled. “So, I’ll be Makoto from now on, and I’ll call you Nagisa and Rei, respectively,” he said. “That also makes it easier for us to get to know each other better,”

Nagisa and Rei both agreed on this before Makoto happened to look at the clock. “Oh?” he said, surprised. “Is it already seven fifty?” He turned to face both Rei and Nagisa. “We have to go now, you need to be back by eight exactly,” And with those words, Makoto got up and pulled Nagisa with him to the door.

They all got their shoes and jacket on before Makoto led the way out in the dark and back to the orphanage. They made it just in time before the clock stroke eight. Time really did seem to fly when you were in good company, Makoto couldn’t help but think so.


	3. Adoption

Since the first dinner with Rei and Nagisa had gone as well as it had, Makoto agreed with Maruyama that he would have them over for dinner on Tuesday and Saturday nights. He kept up his part-time job and therefore he still saw Rei and Nagisa every day. On Tuesdays he actually went and took them home directly after swimming club activities. He had already okayed it with Maruyama. It would seem silly if Rei and Nagisa had to go back to the orphanage as Makoto could pick them up there less than half an hour after they had left the swimming club.

It was one Tuesday, early in December, when Makoto accidentally forgot the time. Nagisa had brought a book and asked Makoto to read aloud from it, but both he and Rei had fallen asleep half way through the first chapter. And since it was still early, Makoto had decided he could afford to take a nap as well.

Unfortunately he forgot to wake up, and so he didn’t wake up before it was half past eight in the evening. Makoto had woken Rei up and they had gotten dressed and ready to go. Then Makoto had given Nagisa his jacket and shoes on while he was still asleep and taken both children back to the orphanage.

Maruyama had greeted them when they came in.

“I’m sorry we’re late,” Makoto said. “We all fell asleep and didn’t wake up on time.” He bowed as much as he could, seeing as Nagisa was still sleeping in his arms. He had carried the small boy all the way over to the orphanage.

Maruyama smiled at this. “That is alright,” she said. “You are a good person, Tachibana-san. I trust that they are safe with you,” She smiled. “But why didn’t you just call over and say that they’d spend the night at your place. I mean, you would save the trouble of waking them up and coming here.”

Makoto looked surprised. “I didn’t know you could do that. And besides, aren’t they more comfortable in their own beds?” he asked.

Maruyama chuckled. “Perhaps,” she said. “But I think they wish their beds were at your place rather than the orphanage, especially that one.” She nodded her head in Nagisa’s direction as she said this.

“Is that true?” Makoto asked. He looked surprised from Maruyama to Rei. Both nodded their heads at him.

“If it’s too much trouble, we can understand,” Rei said, politely. “But we both like being at your place, Makoto-san. You’re kind, especially to Nagisa, and you understand us both.”

Makoto smiled. “It’s no trouble,” he said. “I like having the two of you around. It brings life to the house that you’re there.” He looked to Maruyama. “Shall I come back tomorrow?” he asked.

Maruyama shook her head. “Although we are supposed to be closed, I can make an exception with you, Tachibana-san. We can manage the adoption right away if you wish,” she said.

Makoto smiled. “I appreciate the offer, but shouldn’t Nagisa be awake as well and have a say in the matter?”

As if to respond to Makoto’s question and give his say on the matter, Nagisa turned in Makoto’s arms and wrapped his arms around his neck.

“Mako-chan…” Nagisa mumbled softly in his sleep and Makoto smiled at this.

“I think it’s pretty clear what he wants,” Maruyama said. She went upstairs and returned shortly after with a paper. She put her signature on it and pointed out the line where Makoto had to sign. Then she went to collect both Nagisa’s and Rei’s things. As it turned out, they didn’t own more than what could be in a small suitcase. This was given to Rei, seeing as Nagisa was still sleeping in Makoto’s arms.

“Now, you three take care,” Maruyama said. “I will take care of getting Ryugazaki out of this school. You will have to sign both of them up for your local school on your own. Do you know how it works, Tachibana-san?” she asked.

Makoto nodded. “I have two siblings who are eight years younger than me. I sort of remember how it went when they started school, so I should be fine,” he said.

“That’s good to know,” Maruyama said. “Get home safe,” she said, smiling.

Makoto thanked her and then walked home. Rei followed him, dragging the suitcase after him.

* * *

 

When Nagisa woke in the morning he didn’t recognize where he was at first. The last thing he remembered was that Makoto had read a book aloud to him and Rei. He didn’t remember anything after that. He had had a nice dream though, about penguins. He only remembered that, and feeling warm and comfortable, and then the fact that Makoto and Rei had both been there. But where were they now?

Nagisa sat up and looked around in the room. It was only then he realized that he didn’t know where he was. The room was completely unfamiliar to him. He was lying in a bed. Next to him were two futons. Both were empty.

Since he didn’t know where he was, Nagisa decided to get up and figure that one out. Therefore he tossed the blanket aside and crossed the room. He opened the door and stepped out, into a hallway. He didn’t know where this was either, but he could hear Rei’s and Makoto’s voices from somewhere and the sound of something being cooked.

He decided to follow these sounds and by doing so, he found some stairs, leading downwards. He followed them and finally learned where he was. He recognized the entrée in Makoto’s house easily.

Nagisa then made his way to the kitchen and now he could see Makoto cooking and Rei standing by the kitchen table, watching and talking to Makoto.

“What’s going on?” Nagisa asked.

Rei and Makoto both turned around and smiled at Nagisa as he walked closer.

“Good morning, Nagisa,” Makoto said.

“We’ve been adopted,” Rei said

“Really?” Nagisa smiled widely. “When?” he asked.

“Last night,” Makoto said. “We all ended up falling asleep and when I took you back to the orphanage a little too late, I was given the offer by Maruyama-san. According to both her and Rei, it seemed you wanted to be adopted, so… I guess I went ahead and signed up for the adoption,” he said.

“Yay!” Nagisa exclaimed. He ran up to Makoto and hugged his legs tightly. “Now I get to live at Mako-chan’s place! I’m happy!”

Rei smiled. “So am I,” he said.

“I’m glad to hear that,” Makoto said. He could feel as his eyes were getting slightly wet with tears of joy.

“Mako-chan, what’s for breakfast?” Nagisa asked then, deciding that it was time for a change of topic.

“Rice and tuna,” Makoto answered.

“Sound boring,” Nagisa pouted.

“We’ll see about that,” Makoto said. “It seems to be done,” He put rice in three bowls and tuna on three plates. He had Rei and Nagisa help carrying them to the table and then they sat down and ate.

It turned out that Nagisa found the food too bitter, especially the tuna, and Makoto laughed at this. Then he asked Nagisa what he would like for breakfast in the future.

“Something with strawberry jam!” Nagisa declared.

Makoto smiled at this too. “We’ll see what we can do about that then,” he said. He had already noticed that Nagisa seemed to like the strawberry flavor a lot, and sweet stuff too. Therefore the demand didn’t really come as a surprise to him. And since Nagisa was still young, Makoto saw no reason to not give him what he asked for, at least when it came to breakfast.

Makoto had taken the day off from school as he could have Nagisa and Rei enrolled into the local elementary school and pre-school. He would want them to get started as soon as possible as they didn’t have to stay home alone all day while he was at school as well.

Nagisa would have to wait until spring before he could get started, of course, but Rei could start school on the following day, so Makoto was happy. He then arranged for the elder woman who was living next door, to have Nagisa stay at her place until either Makoto or Rei were off from school. At least the swimming club was at a short distance from their home, so Nagisa could walk there on his own if he wanted.

Although the decision to adopt was made rather quickly, Makoto soon found that he didn’t regret it, not even once. He was actually happy that he had taken the offer and adopted the two boys. Now he officially had a family to call his own.


	4. Devoted

“Mako-chan!” Nagisa yelled as Makoto came home from work one late afternoon. He’d brought his childhood friend along with him.

“Mako-chan?” Kisumi asked. He looked at Makoto with questioning eyes. “Who is that kid anyway?”

Makoto smiled. “I adopted two kids recently,” he explained. Rei appeared in the door just then. “The blonde is Nagisa, and the one with the glasses is Rei,” Makoto said. “We got on first names a while ago,”

“I don’t get it,” Kisumi said. “My ex had them over once and she said that they were more trouble than they were worth,”

Makoto just smiled. “She’s not the first. Though I don’t mind such a small amount of trouble as these two are. It’s only natural for a pair like them,”

“Mako-chan, who’s that guy?” Nagisa asked, pointing at Kisumi.

“Don’t point at others,” Rei corrected the younger one. “He is Makoto’s guest so we have to be nice to him,” he instructed.

Makoto laughed. “It’s alright, right?” he looked to Kisumi who nodded before Makoto turned back to the two children. “This is my childhood friend, Shigino Kisumi. He is here to have dinner with us tonight,”

“Nice to meet you, Shigino-san,” Rei took a step forward. “I’m Ryugazaki Rei.”

Nagisa stepped forward too. “Nice to meet you, I’m Hazuki Nagisa,” he said.

“Nice to meet you too,” Kisumi said. He took off his shoes and entered the house. Makoto followed right behind him. The two men went to the kitchen to prepare dinner while Rei went to do his homework and Nagisa sat down and started drawing.

It didn’t take long for dinner to be prepared and soon the four sat around the table and got started on eating. Kisumi and Makoto were talking about anything friends would normally talk about while Rei and Nagisa were just sitting, not saying a word until Makoto started to send Kisumi looks, encouraging him to speak to the two children.

“Eh… so… how old are you two anyways?” Kisumi asked, a bit insecurely.

“I’m eight years old,” Rei answered.

“I’m five,” Nagisa followed up. “How old are you, Shigino-san?” he asked.

Kisumi smiled. “I’m 26 years old,” he said. “May I ask how long you have been here?” he asked.

“You already have,” Nagisa stated.

“Nagisa!” Rei exclaimed.

Makoto let out an amused laugh, and so did Kisumi, although he was a bit more hesitant at first.

“We were adopted a little over two weeks ago,” Rei said.

Makoto nodded. “This Tuesday it’ll be three weeks exactly,” he said. “Reminds me, what are you going to do on New Year’s? Are you going home?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Kisumi said. “Mom says she misses me and I’m sure dad and Hayato won’t mind me coming home either. What about you? Are you going to visit your family? Or are you spending New Year’s with your own, now that you’ve become a father yourself?” Kisumi asked. There was a slightly teasing look in his eye since he believed you seemed older once you became a parent, regardless of how old you actually were.

Makoto smiled. “I’m going to see my parents,” he said. “New Year’s is also the perfect time to introduce them to Nagisa and Rei, or the other way around.”

Kisumi sent Makoto a disbelieving look. “Do you mean…” he began, but then trailed off. He decided to take this conversation while Rei and Nagisa weren’t around. It could end up going in some directions he didn’t think they should know about.

“What?” Makoto asked.

“Nothing,” Kisumi answered. “It’s really good food you’ve prepared. You seem to know what I like.” He smiled at Makoto as he said this.

Makoto laughed. “That’s because we’ve been so close for the past 20 years or so,” he said.

“Has it really been that long?” Kisumi asked.

“Shigino-san has really known Mako-chan since childhood,” Nagisa said. “What was Mako-chan like back then?” he asked.

Kisumi turned to Nagisa. “When Makoto was your age?” he asked. “He was a crybaby.” He stated.

“Oi, that’s mean!” Makoto exclaimed. “I didn’t even cry that much.”

Kisumi laughed. “You cried whenever our classmates said your name was girly and teased you a bit about it. I admit, they did tease you a lot though.”

“Was Makoto bullied?” Rei asked, arriving at the conclusion that a lot of teasing was equal to being bullied.

“You could say that,” Kisumi said. “Most kids in our class picked on those with weird names. First only Makoto, but once we started English they started teasing me about my name as well.” Kisumi laughed at the thought of how his classmates would say “Kiss me” whenever they tried to speak to him. In response to this, Kisumi had once kissed one of his classmates when he said it. This had stopped the teasing.

“How?” Nagisa asked.

“That’s not a tale I’ll tell now,” Kisumi said. “It’ll take forever, and you need to finish up,” he said.

Nagisa nodded and finished up, surprisingly willingly considering he had just been given this order by someone he barely even knew. Rei finished up too and the two soon went to take their baths and go to bed. Kisumi and Makoto stayed in the living room.

“You were about to say something earlier,” Makoto remembered. “Are you still sure it was nothing?” he asked.

“Do your parents know that you have adopted? Did you talk to them about it?” Kisumi asked.

Makoto shook his head. “No,” he said. “It all happened rather suddenly, so I didn’t get the chance to ask anyone about it,” he said. “I never called to tell them about this either.”

Kisumi patted Makoto’s shoulder. “What kind of child are you? Not telling your parents that they have become grandparents now, any normal child would have done that on the moment it happened!” he said.

“Would you call and tell your parents?” Makoto asked.

“Well…” Kisumi looked distant as he spoke. “I would, if it ever were to happen, but it probably won’t. I’ve never had a really serious relationship, you know.”

Makoto smiled. “That’s true,” he said.

“So… how does it feel… to suddenly become a parent?” Kisumi asked.

Makoto thought. “Eh… well… not much different than before, actually. I feel like I need to be a bit more responsible, but it’s not much different than taking care of Ren and Ran when they were young,” he explained.

“Except you’re all alone on this one,” Kisumi said. “You had your parents before, but now you only have yourself to rely on. It’s gotta be tough.”

Makoto shook his head. “Not really,” he said. “They say the most troublesome years are those when they are from newly born until the age of two or three years old, or so I’ve heard. So I’ve skipped that, and both Rei and Nagisa have already proved to be a good help. Sure they are still young, but they know to clean up after themselves. Sure, I need to remind Nagisa of a few things, but that’s what’s to be expected from a five-years-old. He is exactly like any five-years-old should be. Rei is a little too proper for his age, but it’s not a bad thing, I only wish he would loosen up a bit. Aside from that, I’m not going to change either of them. I will just take care of them as best as I can and try to give them a family and a place to call home.”

“That was a beautiful speech,” Kisumi laughed. “You sound so serious, Makoto.”

“Do I?” Makoto looked surprised at Kisumi.

Kisumi nodded. “You’re really devoted to this parenting thing, aren’t you?” he asked.

Makoto thought about this and then smiled. “I guess I am,” he said.


	5. Gathering

It was on the morning of New Years. Nagisa was sound asleep in his bedroom. Since he and Rei moved in with Makoto, they had gotten separate rooms. This served Nagisa well, seeing as this was one of the things he had always wanted. At the orphanage, he had always shared his room with someone, at first a boy his own age, and later on, he got to share a room with Rei. But now he had a room all to himself. What more could he want?

But Nagisa was soon awakened from his peaceful slumber by a stressed out Makoto who slammed the door open and hurried in to wake him up.

“Nagisa, we need to get going really soon!” Makoto exclaimed, tearing Nagisa out of his futon.

Nagisa shook his head, refusing to get up. He didn’t feel like he had slept enough. Sadly he had these mornings when he wouldn’t want to do anything. On these mornings, he would be exceptionally sleepy too.

“Come on,” Makoto practically dragged Nagisa out of bed and found some clothes for him. Then he helped the still sleepy Nagisa get dressed. “We really are in a hurry,” he said.

“Why?” Nagisa muttered. He stretched up his arms as Makoto could pull his shirt over his head.

“There was a minor train accident this morning, it’s blocking the direct line to my parents’ house, so we need to take a detour,” Makoto explained.

Nagisa nodded and stood up. He then went to the bathroom to wash his face and brush his teeth. Makoto smiled, happy that Nagisa was so understanding and willingly did all these things. Normally on mornings like this, Makoto would be the one who had to wash his face and brush his teeth for him. This would normally cause Nagisa to get more irritable than usual.

Makoto went downstairs where Rei had been watching over the rice while he was waking up Nagisa. Makoto now took over again and finished cooking in due time for when Nagisa came downstairs. They swallowed breakfast in a hurry, got on their coats and shoes and left for the train station.

* * *

 

The plan was that Makoto would arrive in due time to help out with dinner preparations and anything else that needed to be done before they could celebrate New Year’s. It had been a sort of tradition ever since he moved out five years ago.

Makoto would normally arrive around 11 in the morning, but due to the minor accident in the night, he, Rei and Nagisa didn’t manage to arrive until a little before noon. He rang the doorbell and waited patiently. He always did this when coming home after he had moved out.

The door was opened almost immediately by a young, overly excited girl whose face lit up as soon as she saw Makoto outside.

“Nii-chan!” she exclaimed.

“Hey, Ran,” Makoto said.

“Mom!” Ran called. “Nii-chan’s home!”

A soft laugh was heard. “You know his home isn’t here anymore, Ran,” she said as she came out and stood in the doorway. She looked at Makoto and smiled. “It’s been too long,” she said.

“I’m sorry,” Makoto apologized. “I’ve been busy,”

She laughed. “I can imagine.” Then she noticed Nagisa and Rei who were both trying to hide a little behind Makoto. Meeting his family had made both of them nervous all of the sudden.

“Who are those two behind you?” She asked while looking back up at Makoto with a slightly confused look.

“Sorry,” Makoto apologized again. “I forgot to tell you that I’ve adopted two boys recently,” He smiled at his mother then.

“You really have been busy,” Makoto’s mother said. Then she stepped aside and pulled Ran with her. “Come on in, all of you,” she said.

“Thank you,” Makoto said. “Sorry for the intrusion,” he said. Nagisa and Rei repeated him before they all stepped inside and took off their coats and shoes.

Ren now came out of the living room. “Nii-chan’s home,” he said.

Their mother sighed and shook her head, refusing to repeat what she had just said to Ran less than five minutes ago. Both of them know it anyway.

“Ren, Ran, we need someone to go down by the convenience store and buy a little extra for tonight, seeing as we’ve got two more mouths to feed,” she asked them.

Ren and Ran both nodded and left the house quickly. Both smiled at Rei and Nagisa as they walked by and Ran even waved at them before closing the door.

Makoto’s mother then called on her husband and asked him to go find some of Ren’s and Makoto’s old toys as Nagisa and Rei had something to play with while they were preparing dinner. Makoto’s father then went upstairs with Nagisa and Rei curiously following him once they were invited to do so.

Makoto’s mother then let the way to the kitchen where she and Makoto both got started on preparing the food.

“You could’ve at least told us that you were thinking of making us grandparents,” Makoto’s mother said.

“Sorry,” Makoto said. “It all happened so fast. I didn’t even plan on adopting them until I got the offer of doing it right away,” he said. He grabbed some vegetables from the fridge and started pealing them.

“When did you adopt them?” she asked.

“The beginning of this month,” Makoto answered. “But I’ve had them over for dinner twice a week since the end of October,” he said.

“That’s not long,” his mother said. “What even gave you the idea to adopt them, let alone have them over for dinner?” she asked.

Makoto smiled as he continued to peal. “I heard someone talk about them not being wanted by anyone. They were said to be more trouble than they were worth. I didn’t follow, so I invited them over to see for myself if it was really true. Before I knew it, we had grown close and I more or less already felt like their parent, like I was responsible for them. When I was told that they wanted to live with me, I simply couldn’t deny the request and agreed to adopt them right then and there. I haven’t had a single regret about that decision.” He said.

Makoto’s mother laughed. “That doesn’t really surprise me,” she said. “You have always been too kind for your own good, and although I’m a bit surprised because this is so sudden, I don’t doubt you’ll be thee best parent they could ever wish for,” She started cutting the meat as she continued to speak. “In return, your father and I will be the most supporting parents and grandparents we can be. If you’re stressed, we can take them over for a bit and we will make sure they’re feeling like they’re really a part of this family,” she said.

Makoto smiled. “Thank you, mom,” he said.

“And I’m sure Ren and Ran will do all they can as well,” she assured.

Makoto nodded and grabbed a new vegetable to peal. “I know,” he said.

Shortly after, Ren and Ran returned with extra food and drinks. They then went upstairs to talk to and play with Nagisa and Rei.

When it was time for dinner, both Nagisa and Rei appeared to have had a great time with Ren and Ran and once dinner was over, the entire family sat and played a board game that Nagisa had picked out for them. Makoto ended up winning the game, while Nagisa was second to complete. He then stated that he had let Makoto win.

“I know that,” Makoto said, while smiling.

Half an hour later, Nagisa was sound asleep on the floor, completely exhausted after all the experiences he had had today. Rei tried to stay awake, but he also ended up falling asleep before the clock stroke 12.

After a long discussion, Makoto’s mother ended up staying inside and watch over the sleeping children while Makoto, Ren, Ran and their father went outside to see a firework show, one of their neighbors were putting on for everyone in the street to watch. He had done this for as long as Makoto could remember. Makoto believed it continued to become more beautiful for each year. He couldn’t wait for the year when Nagisa and Rei were both able to stay awake for long enough to see it. This was the thought that went through his head as he watched.

After this, they all went inside. Makoto’s mother had already found two futons, one for Rei and one for Nagisa, and laid them out in Makoto’s old room. They would all sleep there

“Thank you,” Makoto told both his parents before going to bed.

“What for?” his mother asked.

“For showing Rei and Nagisa a good time. I’m sure they really did feel like they belong here,” Makoto said.

“That’s the least we could do,” his father said while smiling. “After all, those two are just as much part of our family as you are.”

Makoto smiled gratefully. “Thank you,” he said once more before wishing his parents a good night and going to bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this might already have become a bit boring because there's not really anything going on, that wasn't the intention either. If you're hoping the same climatic upbuild that the other stories had, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but it won't be in this one. There are a few minor climaxes though.   
> The story was intended to explain what happened before Makoto and the others moved to Tokyo, and explain further what happened druing and between the small flash-backs I wrote. With that being said. If there is anything in regards of this series that you want me to write a story about too, please let me know.   
> Thanks for reading.
> 
> Jackie


	6. Babysitter

It was on February. Kisumi just exited the convenience store he was working at, having finished his shift for today. The air was chilly today. He had forgotten his gloves at home, and now he was annoyed with himself because of that. He won’t be home until late anyways.

Kisumi started walking in the direction of the area where Makoto was living. Since Makoto was having his practical exam today so he couldn’t make it home until the middle of the night, therefore Kisumi would have to look after Rei and Nagisa. He had already asked Makoto if his parents couldn’t take care of them, but Ren and Ran were having exams right now, so Makoto didn’t want to bother them, and the woman who was looking after Nagisa during day-time was visiting her family in Hokkaido.

Kisumi looked up at the light gray sky. In the weather forecast they’d said it would snow tonight. From the chillness in the air and the way the sky was looking, he found it hard to doubt.

He still didn’t know Nagisa and Rei very well, in fact, he hadn’t really tried much. Children weren’t really his specialty. Sure he had always gotten along well with Hayato despite the age-gap, but this was different. Rei and Nagisa weren’t family, at least not to him, but perhaps he should try and get along with them, just for tonight.

Kisumi walked up the stone steps to the small house, half-way up the mountain. Nagisa should be home so the door was unlocked, that was what Makoto had said on the phone yesterday at least.

Kisumi went up to the door and pushed down the handle. Indeed it was unlocked, so he let himself in.

“Sorry for the intrusion,” he excused himself before he closed the door behind himself and looked around in the empty hallway. “Hazuki?” he called out. He was still not on first-name terms with the two children.

He didn’t receive a reply though.

“Hazuki?” he called once more as he took off his shoes and went to look around in the kitchen. Here he found a note on the floor. He picked it up and looked at it.

* * *

 

_Shigino-san. We’re playing hide and seek. I’m hiding. You know what you’ve gotta do! I’m somewhere nearby. Look in and out, high and low, left and right, anywhere. I’ve hidden well._

_See you once you find me._

_Nagisa_

* * *

 

“Hide and seek?” Kisumi scanned the note once more and then looked around. He didn’t think he had time for these kinds of games. He was supposed to babysit the boy. Why would he want to play hide and seek in the first place? Now that Kisumi thought about it, it’d been ages since he played hide and seek last, probably around 15 years or so, at least not since he graduated from elementary school.

Kisumi started looking around in the house in an attempt to find Nagisa, but the task seemed impossible. He looked anywhere, through the living room, the bathroom, each bedroom. He looked underneath the beds, in the bathtub, in the closet under the sink, but he couldn’t find Nagisa, no matter how hard he seemed to try. How hard could this game be? He wondered.

After around two hours of searching for the five-years-old, Rei finally returned home to find Kisumi in the middle of looking through the house a second time.

“What’s going on, Shigino-san?” Rei asked.

“Your brother is playing hide and seek,” Kisumi answered.

Rei looked confused at first, but then he nodded. “Nagisa isn’t really my brother,” he stated.

“Doesn’t matter, just help me look,” Kisumi said, slightly irritated. “This is getting on my nerve.”

“Did he leave clues?” Rei asked.

“He left a note.” Kisumi showed it to Rei, who read it quickly.

“Are you sure you looked everywhere?” Rei asked.

Kisumi nodded.

“Outside too?” Rei asked.

“He said he’d be nearby,” Kisumi answered.

“He also said in and out, which is a clue to that he can have hidden outside,” Rei said. “I’ve taught him not to just say random stuff, so he took it to heart. If he hides, there is always a note holding a hint to where he is,” he explained.

“You’ve dealt with this before?” Kisumi asked.

“He hides whenever he wants to prank someone or there is something he doesn’t want to do,” Rei explained. “It has happened at least five times over the past two years.”

“That’s a lot,” Kisumi said. “But if he’s outside… isn’t he cold?”

Rei nodded. “Probably. Go out and see,” he encouraged.

Kisumi nodded and went outside. If Nagisa caught a cold while Makoto was gone, it would cause trouble for their friendship. That much Kisumi did understand.

Nagisa was indeed hiding outside, behind some bushes and the cherry blossom tree. He was smiling as he noticed Kisumi towering above him, looking down at him with irritation.

“You took your time, Kisu-chan,” he said.

“We never became that close,” Kisumi said before he turned around. “Come on inside. It’s cold out here,” he said.

“Okay,” Nagisa ran up to Kisumi and grabbed his hand. “But since you’re babysitting us, can we become this close?” he asked.

Kisumi took time thinking. “Do you really want that?” he asked.

“I do, so do Rei-chan, and I know Mako-chan wants it too. If we don’t make friends, you can’t come visit Mako-chan as much as before,” Nagisa explained.

That child really had a good point, but he put it in the exact way that would annoy Kisumi the most. The strange thing was that Kisumi found he liked this approach. He smiled down at the blonde kid.

“Okay,” he said. “Let’s make friends, Nagisa,” he said as they walked inside.

To warm up Nagisa after he’d been out in the cold for two hours, Kisumi made hot chocolate for all of them. They then started playing a card-game Rei had learned from a classmate the other day. After this, Kisumi taught them a game which neither of the two knew. Nagisa was half asleep when Kisumi remembered that they had completely forgotten to have dinner, so he got busy heating up the food Makoto had prepared for them and then they sat and ate.

After this, Kisumi demanded that it was time for Nagisa to go to bed, and so the child went to bed. After a while, Kisumi came up to say goodnight to him while Rei was downstairs, doing homework for tomorrow.

“Are you comfortable?” Kisumi asked as he entered Nagisa’s room. The boy was still sleeping on a futon.

Nagisa looked up. “I’m fine… I just miss Mako-chan,” he said.

Kisumi sat down next to him. “I’m sure you do,” he said before thinking. “Can I help with anything?” he asked.

“Stay until Mako-chan comes home,” Nagisa demanded.

Kisumi smiled. “I’m not sure I can do that,” he said. “I still need to clean up the kitchen and help Rei out with his homework if it’s needed, he also needs someone to watch out for him, you know,” he said.

Nagisa nodded. “I know,” he said. “Then… can you stay until I fall asleep?” he asked.

Kisumi nodded. “I think that’s possible,” he said.

They were silent for a while as Kisumi looked around in the room. There were already a few things that clearly were Nagisa’s belongings. There was a small desk with penguin figures on it and a closet with drawings of penguins. There were also some board-games in a corner, these looked old and Kisumi was pretty sure they used to belong to Makoto’s family.

“Do you like penguins?” he asked as he looked back at the drawing on the closet.

Nagisa nodded. “Penguins are my favorite animal,” he said. “They’re really cool, especially in the way they swim,” he explained. “When I grow up, I want to become a penguin,” he declared.

Kisumi tried his hardest to hold back the laugh. “Sure you do,” he said, barely failing his attempts of not to laugh. “Penguins really are cool though,” he said after calming down.

“I know,” Nagisa said.

They were silent for a little while longer. Kisumi was nearly dosing off when he was snapped awake by a soft sound coming from Nagisa. It was the sound of him snoring. This meant Kisumi was free to leave, and so he did. He needed to go down and check on Rei anyways.

“Nagisa really has got great ambitions for his future,” Kisumi said.

Rei looked up, confused. “Did he say he want to become a penguin or something?” he asked.

Kisumi laughed. “That’s exactly what he said,” he confirmed. “Is he always like that?” he asked.

Rei nodded. “If he’s not like that, I start fearing he might be sick. He is random at times, usually gets crazy ideas and is always getting either himself or someone else into trouble. But he is not doing anything with bad intentions. He always smiles too. He is also very supportive,” Rei smiled at this, more to himself than to Kisumi and the man got the feeling that the boy was talking from experiences, at least when it came to the last part.

He suddenly became very happy that Makoto had adopted, and especially that he had adopted exactly these two unique boys.


	7. Cold

It was a couple of days before spring break would start. The days up until now had been relatively warm, but just the day before the weather had changed drastically and it had started raining a lot.

Nagisa was moody when he came downstairs. He was still wearing his pajamas and claimed that it was too cold to change into normal clothes. Makoto laughed at this as he filled rice in three bowls and had Nagisa go and place them on the table.

“Is Rei up?” Makoto then asked.

“I don’t know,” Nagisa said. “The door to his room was closed.”

Makoto got a little worried as he nodded and headed upstairs. He had to drag Nagisa out of bed from time to time, but Rei was usually really good at getting up when he had to. He would normally be up by this time because it was Thursday and he had to go to school, but he wasn’t.

“Rei?” Makoto knocked on Rei’s door. “Are you up?”

There was no response, so Makoto walked inside. Rei was lying in bed with the blanket pulled up to his chin. He was sound asleep, but woke up once Makoto approached.

“Makoto?” he asked. “Good morning…” He didn’t sound so well, Makoto picked up on this right away. He sounded tired, like he hadn’t been sleeping all night, and like there wasn’t enough air getting through his nose.

“Good morning, Rei,” Makoto said, kneeling down beside the bluenette. “How are you feeling?” he asked. He felt like he had to, seeing as Rei looked to be sick, but Makoto wouldn’t just force him to stay in bed if he was feeling fine.

“Tired,” Rei answered. “I couldn’t really fall asleep,” he said.

“Do you want to get up?” Makoto asked.

“Why are you acting like this, Makoto?” Rei asked. He didn’t seem to understand why Makoto seemed so worried about him.

Makoto smiled. “It doesn’t look or sound like you’re feeling that well, so I thought you might be sick,” he said.

Rei didn’t respond right away. He was hardly ever sick. He couldn’t even remember if he’d been sick before. But if Makoto said he looked sick, could there be something to it?

He tried sitting up and get out of bed, but once he did, he started sneezing and his nose started running. He also found that he felt like lying back down rather than stand up. Did this mean he was sick? Even so, he wanted to try getting up and so he stood.

“Are you sure about getting up?” Makoto asked.

Rei looked up. No, he wasn’t.

Makoto placed a hand on his forehead and felt. He seemed to be warm too. This settled it for Makoto and he smiled kindly at Rei.

“I’ll call the school to tell them that you’ll be absent,” he said. “You’ve got a fever and a cold so it’s best if you stay at home, and rather in bed. I will have my mom come pick up Nagisa to prevent him from being infected,” he said.

“Shall I go back in bed?” Rei asked.

“You’ll do better with some sleep,” Makoto said. “Are you hungry?” he asked, remembering that he was actually in the process of preparing breakfast downstairs.

Rei shook his head. “Not really,” he answered.

Makoto nodded. “Then go back to bed. If you get hungry or thirsty or anything then you just call. I’ll stay home and take care of you, that okay?” he asked.

Rei nodded as he went back to bed and covered himself with the blanket. Makoto got up and left the room. He didn’t close the door. It would be easier for him to hear if Rei needed anything like that.

* * *

 

“Where’s Rei-chan?” Nagisa asked when Makoto came back downstairs. He was sitting by the table, waiting for the rest of the breakfast to be served.

“Rei’s sick,” Makoto said. He finished the last of the breakfast and put it on three plates. Then he put one plate and one bowl of rice in the fridge, either for Rei if he wanted it later, or for himself at lunch-time or something.

“Really sick?” Nagisa’s round eyes got even rounder if that was possible. He looked very surprised. He’d never imagined that Rei could get sick. It seemed like an impossibility.

“It’s just a cold,” Makoto said. “But you’ll stay with grandma and grandpa for a couple of days until he gets better.”

Nagisa bit his lip. He didn’t really want to be separated from Rei for that long. They had never tried that before, but something in Makoto’s tone told him that he didn’t have a say in the matter and he had to trust that Makoto knew best. He did want Rei to get better soon.

 

After breakfast, Makoto went to call first the school to say that Rei had caught a cold and would be absent for a couple of days and then his mother to ask if she could come pick up Nagisa and have him over for a while. She agreed to come and said she would be there within an hour.

“Mako-chan,” Nagisa said once Makoto had hung up with his mother. “Can I see Rei-chan before I go?” he asked.

Makoto thought, then he smiled and nodded. “If he’s awake, you can,” he said. “But I don’t want you to wake him up. He needs as much sleep as he can get,” he explained.

Nagisa nodded. “Will you help me pack?” he asked, knowing this was what he had to do now as he was prepared for when Makoto’s mother came to pick him up.

“Sure,” Makoto said and they went upstairs. They both tried to make as little noise as possible as to not wake up Rei while they were packing clothes, painting books, crayons, and anything else Nagisa would need while he was away.

About 15 minutes before Makoto’s mother would arrive, Rei woke up and called for Makoto to get him some water. Nagisa was the one who got to bring a bottle of water and a glass to the older boy. He walked in with the things, slowly.

“Are you really sick, Rei-chan?” he asked

Rei looked up and smiled as he saw Nagisa approaching. “It’s not so bad,” he answered.

“Are you gonna die?” Nagisa asked. He put the glass and the bottle on the table next to Rei’s bed, screwed the cab off the bottle and poured water into the glass.

Makoto, who was standing outside and listening to the conversation, had to hold back chuckles at this. It seemed Nagisa’s imagination had been running wild.

Rei also had to fight back an amused smile, but he failed. “Of course not. I’ll be fine soon,” he said. He was pretty sure of this himself, especially because he knew that if there was a chance he would die, he would be in the hospital rather than at home. “Are you going to Makoto’s parents’ house?” he asked.

Nagisa nodded. “I’ll stay there until you’re well, so get well soon, Rei-chan” he demanded.

Rei smiled at this too. “You’ll be home before you know it,” he assured the blonde.

Nagisa responded to the smile and wrapped his arms tightly around Rei, hugging him tight. Rei responded to the hug, feeling happy that he was cared for so much.

Then the doorbell rang and shortly after, Nagisa left the house with Makoto’s mother.

* * *

 

Rei was only sick for a couple of days. He was back to school the following Monday, and this was when Nagisa returned home as well. Spring break was approaching now, and it wouldn’t be long before Nagisa started school for real. Rei would start in fourth grade then too, so this was what the little family was putting its focus on now.


	8. Tree

Since Nagisa started school this spring he had thought it was fun, just like Rei had told him it would be. Although the teachers continuously reminded them that this was only kindergarten and that school would be much tougher once it actually got started, Nagisa couldn’t help his believes.

Right now, Nagisa was sitting on a chair in the classroom, swinging his legs back and forth, because they couldn’t reach the floor, while listening to their teacher talking about the hiragana and katakana. Nagisa knew of both. He had been taught in the orphanage and Makoto had also explained some more of it to him. But there were some in the class who hadn’t learned them yet, and therefore their teacher had to start from the beginning.

The school day was nearly done when their teacher, Sakamoto-sensei changed the subject she was talking about to something entirely different.

“For tomorrow, I have some homework for you. It will be your very first homework,” she said with a bright smile, like she had just given them some very good news. Nagisa noticed how the entire class smiled. Nagisa smiled as well. “Due to tomorrow you will have to make a family tree of your own family, that means your brothers, sisters, parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins, as many as you can think up. Just draw a picture of them and write their names and their relation to you, like this,”

Sakamoto-sensei pulled up a paper and showed her own family. “That’s me,” she pointed to the bottom of the paper. “Next to me is my sister, here are my parents, and that’s my mother’s sister and her husband and son, and there are my grandparents,” she pointed them out as she mentioned them. “Tomorrow you will present your families to the entire class,”

Suddenly homework weren’t as much fun as Nagisa had thought they would be.

* * *

 

The following day, when they had Sakamoto-sensei again, the entire class was prepared to present their families for the others. Nagisa was sitting by a table with three of his classmates, Akito, Ayato and Yukio.

“I managed to make a really great one!” Yukio said while showing his to the other three boys around the table. “There’s my older brother and my older sister is there, and there’s my mother and her brothers and my father and his brother and my cousins, and here are my grandparents,” he pointed them out as he spoke. “I get best along with my cousin Shun on my father’s side,” he said and pointed said cousin out.

“Mine’s better,” Akito said and showed his. “Look at it,”

“I bet you mine’s better,” Ayato said and showed his as well.

Nagisa and Yukio took a look at both family trees and a realization hit Nagisa after only a few moments. “Aki-chan, Aya-chan, aren’t they mirrored or something? They look almost the same,” Nagisa asked.

Akito and Ayato nodded and Ayato explained. “We are twins, so we have the same family,” he said.

“That’s so cool!” Yukio said. “I wish I had a brother my age!”

Both Ayato and Akito shook their heads. “No,” Akito said. “You won’t want that, we have to share everything! That’s so annoying!”

Nagisa dragged himself completely out of the conversation. All he wished right now was that he had a family. Of course he had Makoto and Rei, but they weren’t his real family. He wasn’t stupid. He knew he had been adopted. He still remembered the time at the orphanage when it was only him and Rei. It was less than half a year ago since they were adopted.

“Alright class!” Sakamoto-sensei said. “Let’s get started on the presentations. We take it in alphabetic order so be sure you know when it’s your turn,”

When she said alphabetic order, she meant by the surnames, which meant Nagisa was in the latter half of the class. He therefore sat and waited and watched as his classmates went up to the front one by one and presented their families. Akito and Ayato did it together because they were twins.

Nishii Satsuki had just finished presenting her family and had headed back to her chair and the rest of the class was now waiting for the next to come up. But nobody came.

“Who is next?” Sakamoto-sensei asked.

Nobody answered and she had to look at the list of students to see who it was. She looked up at Nagisa as she finished. “Hazuki-kun, would you please present your family to us?” she asked.

Nagisa walked up in front of his class. His hands were empty.

“Where is your family tree?” Sakamoto asked as she noticed this.

“I didn’t make one,” Nagisa answered honestly.

Sakamoto sighed. “Sit back down, Hazuki-kun,” she said. “You will stay behind after class and we will work on it together,” she said.

Nagisa did as he was told. The rest of the class stared at him all the way.

* * *

 

Makoto was home from work. He had just entered and taken off his shoes when the phone started ringing in the living room. Rei was already home and he could hear the oldest of his boys go to answer the phone for him. Makoto silently thanked Rei for that. Sometimes he thought it was a huge relief to have both Rei and Nagisa in the house, even if they were still young they could do little things that helped him to not stress as much.

“Makoto-san!” Rei called from the living room. “Makoto-san, it’s from the school, they want to speak to you,” he said.

Makoto wondered what they wanted to speak to him about as he headed to the living room and accepted the phone, which Rei was handing to him. “Thank you Rei,” he said before putting the phone to his ear. “Hello, Tachibana Makoto speaking,” he said.

“Hello, Tachibana-san,” it was a female speaking. “I’m Sakamoto Mayu, Hazuki-kun’s teacher,” she said.

Makoto nodded. “What is this about? Has Nagisa done something?” he asked.

“Sort of,” Sakamoto said. “He has refused to make a family tree, the task is perfectly clear, I kept him here after school as we could work on it but he kept refusing, just now… Just now he started crying and I don’t know why,” she explained.

“I see,” Makoto said. “I’ll come to the school right away,”

* * *

 

Ten minutes later, Makoto and Rei were at the school and on their way down the hallway to Nagisa’s classroom. Makoto opened the door and walked inside. By a table in the back the still sobbing Nagisa was found along with his confused and worried teacher.

“Nagisa,” Makoto said and hurried over to the blonde boy. Rei kept on standing by the door.

“M-Mako-chan,” Nagisa sobbed. He looked up and saw Makoto, and then his gaze landed on Rei and Makoto was long forgotten. “Rei-chan!” he exclaimed and ran to Rei. He jumped into the older boy’s arms and sobbed into his chest, fresh tears started running down his cheeks.

“There, there, Nagisa,” Rei said in an attempt to comfort the younger while patting his head softly.

“Rei, Nagisa,” Makoto said. “Do you two mind going outside?” he asked. He figured it would be easier if explanation and comforting were done separately.

Rei nodded and walked outside the room with a lot of difficulty because Nagisa was clinging to him like a koala-baby to its mother. He closed the door behind them.

“I’m sorry about all this, Sakamoto-sensei,” Makoto said.

“I should be the one apologizing, although I don’t even know what I’ve done wrong,” Sakamoto answered.

Makoto smiled. “You couldn’t have known. Nagisa doesn’t have a biological family. Sure I am his father, but I have just adopted him and Rei. The two of them aren’t even related by blood. Therefore a family tree is a difficult task for him to do,” Makoto said.

Sakamoto nodded. “I see,” she said. “I feel really bad now… I should have given the class another task,” she mumbled while looking down at her hands.

Makoto shook his head. “You didn’t know, there is nothing to feel bad about. If you want, I can make him do it for an imaginary family,” he said.

Sakamoto shook her head. “It’s fine,” she said. “He doesn’t have to do it. The intention of this was for the kids to learn more about hiragana, and he already knows everything and is very good at it. There’s no need,” she smiled.

Makoto nodded. “I might just have him do something anyway. He has to learn that he can’t skip stuff at school just because he dislikes it,”

They spoke for a short while longer before Makoto gathered Nagisa’s things and said goodbye to Sakamoto. He then took both his boys home. Nagisa ended up making a family tree for a penguin family and proved his lack of artistic skills. He showed it to Sakamoto, but never made a presentation for his class. Eventually the entire incident was forgotten, but never did the staff forget that Nagisa was an orphan again. Especially not Sakamoto-sensei.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't tell me you haven't seen this chapter before. Also, don't tell me you haven't seen the title before. It is the exact same story I used in Future Parenting BIG REVEAL!!! (or not).   
> I really hope you don't mind me reusing it like this.   
> That's all for now though, thanks for reading. 
> 
> Jackie


	9. Softness

Summer had come to Japan, and also to Iwatobi. A heating wave was on its wake, but this couldn’t be felt in the library where Makoto and Kisumi had taken Nagisa and Rei. There was no doubt that this was a really bad day to spend indoors, but Makoto had needed to borrow a book he could read aloud to Nagisa, Kisumi had to check for a book he could read over the summer, not like he read much though. Rei liked spending time at the library and Nagisa didn’t want to stay home alone.

“You sure you’ll be fine on your own, Rei?” Makoto asked as Rei declared that he wanted to go down and check out some books and said that the others didn’t have to come along.

“Makoto, stop the mother-hen act,” Kisumi smiled. “Rei’s 9 years old you know.”

Makoto smiled. “9 years old is still a rather young age,” he justified.

“I’ll be fine,” Rei said, almost interrupting the two men’s discussion. “You don’t have to worry about me, Makoto-san,” he said.

Makoto nodded. “Okay,” he said. “I won’t go far though. If you need anything, just come over.” he smiled at Rei as he said the last before turning to Nagisa. “Is there anywhere you want to check out?” he asked.

Nagisa shook his head. “Not really,” he said as he followed Makoto and Kisumi down the hallway of shelves. He stopped shortly after by the shorter shelves, meant for children’s books.

“You found something?” Makoto asked.

“Picture-books,” Nagisa answered before he walked over to the shelves and picked out a book about ocean life. He then walked over to a small chair by a table and sat up on it before he opened the book and started reading.

Makoto bent down to check the level of difficulty of the book and looked up with a smile. “It’s easy-read,” he said. “He should be fine,”

Then he and Kisumi continued to look for books. Nagisa had asked Makoto to find some horror stories, he seemed to find them interesting. So Makoto walked around and looked for a book with shorter horror stories, although he was skeptical of the matter.

After around 20 minutes the two men met up with Rei who had also found some books he would like to borrow. Makoto was surprised that Rei had picked out four rather difficult looking books while he and Kisumi had only picked out a book or two each.

“Where’s Nagisa?” Rei asked as he saw that Makoto and Kisumi were alone.

Makoto smiled. “He found some picture-books for children and is probably still reading,” he answered. “I’ll go get him,” he said then and headed towards where he had last seen Nagisa.

He was right, the boy was still sitting on the chair, but now with a stack of books next to him. Makoto scanned the titles. They were all about penguins it seemed. Nagisa seemed to be all caught up in the book he was reading.

Rei came over as well and looked at the younger boy. He smiled happily as he also read the titles of the picture-books.

“Should’ve figured,” he said.

“What?” Makoto asked, looking down at Rei who was still looking at Nagisa with a soft expression on his face.

“Nagisa has always been fond of penguins so it’s not surprising that he is only reading about penguins,” Rei answered.

“Why penguins?” Makoto asked.

“I’m not entirely sure,” Rei answered. “But the animal has always held a meaning to him. He once had a penguin plushy which he received from the orphanage,”

“But he doesn’t have it now,” Makoto stated. “What happened to it?” he asked.

Rei smiled. “It was sacrificed because of Nagisa’s generosity,” he said. Makoto sent him a confused look and Rei continued in a hushed voice.

“About a year ago, a girl was brought to the orphanage one late night. Nagisa and I were sharing a room at that time, and she got the room next to ours to sleep in. I heard the grown-ups say that she had seen something terrible, but I didn’t know what until she came to mine and Nagisa’s room that night.

“Why did she come there?” It was now Kisumi asking the question.

“She couldn’t sleep,” Rei answered. “She kept on thinking about what had happened earlier that same night. She was scared.”

“What happened?” Makoto asked, now concerned.

“She said her parents had fought. They were in the middle of a divorce but then her mother suddenly went crazy and stabbed her father in the back with a knife. Her older brother tried stepping in between them and protect their father. She said her brother was okay but she didn’t know where he was. He’d gotten injured. Her father was also in the hospital and her mother was elsewhere. She was scared her mother came back to kill her or something…” Rei trailed off and then continued. “She was about Nagisa’s age and scared out of her mind. Nagisa felt bad for her and asked that all three of us slept together. So we did that. Nagisa let her borrow his penguin plushy and she hugged it tight all night while sleeping. The following day, when she had to leave, she said that she was scared to sleep alone and therefore Nagisa let her have the plushy and told her to be brave.” As Rei said this, he smiled proudly.

“I remember the incident,” Kisumi said. “It wasn’t too far from where my parents live. I saw the police cars and ambulances that night,” he said.

“I remember too. It was reported in the local paper,” Makoto said. “But it didn’t mention anything about a little girl?” He looked questioningly at Kisumi as if asking if he knew why.

“I think they kept her out of the spotlight for her own sake. It might have been too much on such a small child to be interrogated by the police,” Kisumi explained.

Makoto nodded and looked back to Nagisa who was still sitting with his book. He was almost done by now. He too sent the boy a proud look. “So this is why he likes penguins?” he asked Rei.

“It gave more meaning to it, but he was always fond of penguins because of the plushy and the town mascot," he explained.

“Oh yeah,” Kisumi smiled. “It is a rockhopper penguin, right?” he asked.

Makoto nodded and walked up to Nagisa as the boy had now finished his book. He placed a hand on the boy’s shoulder, causing Nagisa to look up before he grabbed the next book.

“Do you want to borrow those?” Makoto asked.

“Are you done, Mako-chan?” Nagisa asked.

“Yeah,” Makoto said. “We’re leaving now, so if you want to read those, take them with you and we’ll borrow them for a while,” Makoto said.

Nagisa hopped down from the chair and grabbed he entire stack of books, along with the two ones he had already finished. He then headed towards Kisumi and Rei who were both waiting for him and Makoto.

“Didn’t you just read those two?” Rei asked as he noticed that Nagisa had brought the first two books as well.

Nagisa looked up. “I want to read them again, silly Rei-chan.” He said this like it was obvious, and it probably was to him, but anyone else found it weird.

“Let’s just go home,” Makoto said as he guided Nagisa towards the front as they could borrow the books before they all headed home to Makoto’s place for dinner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The incident that is explained here is related to something that actually happened. I guess writing stuff down in a story is kinda my way of coping. It worked before, it works now, or so it seems. Due to privacy of the people who are involved in what happened IRL, I'm not going to explain further about what happened.   
> Thanks for reading
> 
> Jackie


	10. Penguin

It was August 1st. the middle of summer break. Makoto was cooking and Rei was busy keeping Nagisa from getting too overly excited for the birthday party they had planned later today.

It had, of course, been Nagisa’s idea. He had been begging for the party for about a month already. Makoto hadn’t been too sure about the idea for a lot of reasons. First off, he needed permission to get the day off from work, the second reason would be that he would need to have someone to invite over.

But once Makoto got permission to take the day off, he promised Nagisa that they would have the party and he then asked the boy who he wanted to celebrate with.

“Grandma, Grandpa, Ren-chan, Ran-chan and Kisu-chan,” Nagisa had demanded. “And Mako-chan and Rei-chan too of course.” He smiled at the last bit.

Makoto didn’t find any problems with that. These were the ones he had thought of inviting anyways.

“When will they be here!” Nagisa now called from the living room. He was getting really impatient. It was understandable. He had been up since early in the morning because of his excitement.

“It won’t be long now,” Makoto said. “I said that they should be here around 2. It’s almost time.” He turned around to face Rei and Nagisa who were both standing in the doorway to the kitchen. “I’m held up with cooking, so you have to welcome everyone,” he said.

Both children nodded and Nagisa started jumping up and down because he couldn’t contain his excitement.

“Calm down, Nagisa,” Rei demanded while placing a hand on Nagisa’s shoulder.

Just then, the doorbell rang and Nagisa ran up to the door to open it. Rei followed right behind him and they both stood and greeted Makoto’s family, who was waiting outside.

There was an exchange of hugs and cheerful conversations as Makoto’s parents and siblings entered the house. Makoto’s mother went to help her son finish cooking while Nagisa and Rei led the others inside the living room.

It took at least ten more minutes before Kisumi arrived. Makoto had, by this time, finished cooking and went to open the door.

“I thought you won’t come,” Makoto smiled as he opened the door.

“Sorry,” Kisumi scratched the back of his head. “Guess I’m a bit late.”

“Kisu-chan!” Nagisa yelled as he came running and jumped on Kisumi, hugging him tightly. Kisumi responded to the hug. It wasn’t the first time he had been attacked by the small ball of energy upon arriving at the house.

Kisumi entered the house with his arms full of Nagisa, and after a quick round of hellos with everyone in the house, he too got seated and they were now ready to eat.

After they all had eaten, they sat around and just talked for a bit. Nagisa dragged Rei out in the backyard to play and Ren and Ran followed soon after.

“So, how are you holding up, Kisumi?” Makoto’s mother asked. Since Makoto moved out, the rest of the family had only seen Kisumi when they ran into him by chance. This only happened rarely, so therefore they had a lot to catch up on. They did know Kisumi well because he had been by on a regular basis until Makoto moved out.

“Fine,” Kisumi answered. “I moved out on my own a while ago,” he said.

“You still work at that convenience store?” Makoto’s father asked.

“Sure do,” Kisumi smiled widely. “I’m going to represent us as the lead figure in the yukata contest at the mackerel festival next month,”

“Really?” Makoto turned to look at Kisumi. “You never told me that!” he exclaimed.

Kisumi only smiled. “We did it by votes. It was announced yesterday who had won. Apparently all but one had voted for me.” He smiled.

“Who hadn’t voted for you?” Makoto looked surprised, both at the results and the fact that Kisumi knew that one person hadn’t voted for him.

“Since we didn’t have to sign up as candidate, everyone was able to vote, so I was the only one who didn’t vote for me,” Kisumi said.

“Really?” Makoto asked.

“You don’t have to sound so surprised!” Kisumi exclaimed.

“Sorry…,” Makoto muttered.

It was then that Nagisa came running in with Ran in toe. They were both laughing hysterically as the older girl was chasing the young boy around the room. It seemed they were playing tag.

“Ran! Don’t run inside!” Makoto’s mother yelled.

Ran stopped and looked down as she apologized, first to her mother, then to Makoto.

“It’s okay,” Makoto answered. “You may as well stop playing anyways. I think it’s time for cake now,” he said.

“And presents?” Nagisa asked eagerly.

Makoto thought about it, then nodded. “And presents too,” he said.

So Ran and Nagisa went to get Rei and Ren back to the house while the grown-ups went to get the presents and Makoto then went to get the cake.

They started off with the cake and then sat and talked some more before Nagisa got too impatient and started reaching for his presents. This stopped all conversation and everyone turned to look at the small boy.

He picked the largest present as the first one. It was from Ren and Ran. It was an old board-game, one that they played a lot when Nagisa was over. Nagisa had grown fond of the game and in lack of any good new games, Ren and Ran had decided to give Nagisa this game instead.

The second present that Nagisa got was a homemade blanket that Makoto’s mother had made for him. It was yellow and with a strawberry theme. She said it would be better to use in winter, but all her children had a homemade blanket and so she thought that her grandchildren would need one too. She also added that Rei would get one on his birthday too.

The next present Nagisa picked out was from Kisumi. It held a picture-book about penguins called “Iwatobi’s Penguins”

“The convenience store had a handful of them, and since you read a lot of those picture-books at the library, I figured that a rare book like this would be a nice present,” he said.

Nagisa stared at the cover for a while before he smiled at Kisumi and thanked him happily.

Now Nagisa picked up the last present, which was from Makoto. He tore off the giftwrap and sat with a penguin plushy in his hand. He stared at it for a bit and then looked up at Makoto with teary eyes and a happy smile.

Makoto smiled sheepishly. “Rei told me how you gave one away to a girl in need and then I well…” he stopped, not knowing how to continue, but Nagisa understood. He jumped up and ran to Makoto full-speed and hugged him. He had so much force that he caused Makoto to nearly fall over and he was then lying down with Nagisa on top of him. The boy was clinging to him with a happy smile on his face.

Makoto smiled, slightly overwhelmed by the child’s act as he tried to sit back up. He needed help from both Rei and Kisumi to pull it off though.

Once Makoto and Nagisa both sat back up and Nagisa had let go of Makoto and hugged everyone else, they started playing the board-game he had gotten from Ren and Ran. They kept on playing until Makoto had to go prepare dinner. He got help from Kisumi with this and after they had eaten dinner, Makoto’s family and Kisumi all left.

Rei was helping Makoto washing up while Nagisa was lying on his new blanket in the living room, reading the picture-book he had gotten from Kisumi.

“Thank you, Makoto-san,” Rei said as he wiped off another plate.

“For what?” Makoto asked, looking down at the nine-years-old.

Rei hesitated. “Everything,” he said then. “All that you’ve done for us, especially Nagisa,”

“He’s of great concern to you, isn’t he?” Makoto asked as he handed Rei a glass to wipe off.

“He is like a little brother to me,” Rei answered while a slight pinkish shade crept across his cheeks.

Makoto smiled at this. “I’m amazed you have that kind of bond with him even though you aren’t related,” he said.

Rei blushed a little more. “I think it’s natural for us. It is as natural as it is to see you as our parent,”

Now it was Makoto’s turn to blush slightly. “You… You really see me as your parent?” he asked.

Rei nodded. “I don’t remember my biological family. But you are nice to us, you care for us and you try to raise us without trying to change us, like most other adults have,” Rei explained. “Thanks to you, Makoto-san, we’ve both got the feeling of belonging somewhere, we’ve got a family and a place to really call home,”

Makoto smiled. “I… I’m happy you think so, but really, I was just acting like what I thought was best and like my parents probably would have. But I’ve become more comfortable with the role as parent and I’ve also started to really see the two of you as my children. You’re right,” he said as he turned off the water. “It really does feel like we are a family.”

Rei nodded and wiped off the last pot before he handed it to Makoto who put it in place on the top shelf. Then they walked into the living room to find that Nagisa had fallen asleep with his head resting on the open book and with the penguin plushy tugged close to him.

Makoto removed the book from under Nagisa’s head and closed it, before he picked the small boy up and carried him to bed.


	11. Grades

After summer break had ended, Rei had suddenly become way more serious when it came to his studies. It wasn’t uncommon that Nagisa would now help Makoto with most of the chores instead of Rei, because the older was studying.

“I thought you didn’t have to study so hard until you were in middle school,” Nagisa said, one day when he had asked Rei to go play with him and had been declined because Rei had to study.

Makoto smiled and shook his head. “It may have changed a bit from when I was in elementary school, but I remember that we too had to study, even back then,”

Of course Makoto had to play it of as if this was nothing when speaking to Nagisa, but in reality, he was worried about Rei. He had never thought he would see a 4th grader take his studies this seriously. In Makoto’s opinion, as long as you were still in elementary school, you should at least have some time to play and fool around.

* * *

 

Rei’s behavior towards studying continued for a few more days. For each passing day, Makoto’s worry increased. He had to have Rei take a break, he just needed an opportunity for it. And this was when Makoto received a text from Kisumi, giving him the perfect excuse to have Rei do something other than studying all day.

“Rei!” he called out after reading the text. “We’re heading out to see Kisumi at the mackerel festival!”

“Go ahead,” Rei answered, simply.

Makoto walked to the living room where Rei was sitting, focused on his math. “You’re coming along too, Rei. It’s not good for you to just be stuck inside all day and study,” he said.

Rei looked up at Makoto with wide eyes. “But…” he started

“Is something the matter?” Makoto asked.

Rei hesitated. “They’re going to give us a test and we’ll get grades for how well we do,” Rei explained.

Makoto was surprised. He didn’t think they would suggest giving grades to such young children, but he didn’t know anything of the education system.

“You should’ve said that,” Makoto said. “Also, if you need help, just ask. But right now you should come with me and Nagisa out and get some fresh air and get away from your studies for a bit,” he instructed.

Rei nodded. He actually felt better about leaving when Makoto said this. He felt like he could really rely on his words. So he packed away his books and got up and to the door. Nagisa came running downstairs when Makoto called and they soon headed out, all three.

* * *

 

There were many people at the festival. Makoto was walking ahead, creating a path, as it was easier for Nagisa and Rei to walk through the crowd. There were especially a lot of people around the stage where the yukata contest would be held. It was like a human wall, almost impossible to come by. Makoto figured that he could see fine from where he stood, although he was a bit far. He was concerned about Nagisa and Rei though.

“Do you want to get closer?” he asked.

Nagisa nodded. “I can’t see a thing here,” he stated.

“Yeah… it would be nice to get a bit closer,” Rei said.

Makoto nodded. “Go on then,” he said. “Try going as close as you can, but promise me that you stick together. There are a lot of people here. It will be hard for us to find one another if one goes missing,” he said.

“So… should we meet up somewhere?” Rei asked.

Makoto nodded and looked around for a good spot to meet up. “We meet up by the sushi stall over there, with the bright red sign,” he said and nodded in the direction.

Rei and Nagisa nodded. They should be able to find that place relatively easily. Then Rei grabbed Nagisa’s hand and they started heading towards the stage.

Makoto stood in the back. More people continued to arrive and soon he was surrounded by even more people. He had never been to the mackerel festival before and had never seen the yukata contest, but it sure seemed to be popular.

After around 10 minutes, the show started. A man presented the participants. They were from different work-places in town. There were eight participants in total and those who represented the convenience store were number 7.

It wasn’t just a matter of showing off a yukata. It was also a matter of a good performance and a good show. Some nurses from the hospital, whom Makoto didn’t know were participating, were throwing flowers over the crowd. This caused happy cheers to rise from the crowd during the rest of their performance.

Finally it was the convenience store-staff’s turn to perform. Makoto watched with a happy smile on his face as Kisumi came out, showing off the yukata he was wearing. Two girls were dancing in the background while he was walking to the front of the stage and showing the Yukata to the crowd. He was smiling all the way through the performance, and waving at everyone in the crowd. Makoto could hear some girls nearby whisper about how hot Kisumi was and how one of them gasped when she thought he looked at her.

“He is really popular, isn’t he?” a man asked another. They were standing right behind Makoto.

“Probably. I’m not from here, so I don’t know,” the other answered. “Do you know what his name is?”

“No idea,” the first man said before he poked Makoto on the shoulder. “Excuse me, do you know the name of the guy up on the stage, the lead figure?” he asked.

Makoto turned around. He hadn’t expected them to speak to him about it. “His name is Shigino Kisumi but… sorry for saying this, but he isn’t that well known. Most people here probably don’t know who he is,” he answered truthfully.

The man looked questioning at Makoto. “How come you know?” he asked.

“He’s my childhood friend,” Makoto answered.

“Our luck,” the other man smiled. “How old is he? Has he modeled before?” he asked.

“He’s 26 years old and no… I don’t think he has modeled before,” Makoto said.

Both men exchanged looks before the first one turned back to Makoto. “Do you think you could introduce us to him? We would really like to speak to him if possible,”

Makoto wasn’t sure why they were asking him about this, but he saw no harm in doing as they asked and therefore nodded. “I could do that,” Makoto answered.

And so, once the contest was over, the nurses won the whole thing, Makoto went and led the two men behind the stage where he quickly found Kisumi and introduced them. Then he excused himself and went to meet up with Nagisa and Rei. Although he was slightly curious as to what the men wanted with Kisumi, he had responsibility as a parent and he didn’t want to cause Nagisa and Rei to worry about him.

Thankfully they hadn’t had the time to wonder about where Makoto had disappeared to and this saved Makoto from explaining where he’d been. He also soon forgot about it because Nagisa declared that he was hungry.

“Then, let’s go buy some mackerel sushi,” Makoto said.

They went and bought sushi from the stall with the bright red sign. They then went home, seeing as it was getting late, and Nagisa went to bed. Makoto stayed up to help Rei with his studies.

“What do you need help with?” Makoto asked.

“Math,” Rei answered and pointed in the book at a passage that was troubling him.

Makoto was happy that math was still on a rather easy level for him and he started explaining to Rei how he was supposed to understand it.

It took less time than Makoto had thought. Rei seemed to follow rather easily and Makoto only had to come with a few helping methods for the first problem before the boy could solve the rest.

“Is it a math test?” Makoto asked.

Rei nodded. “We’ll be tested in all we have been through in math since spring break,“ he answered.

“When is it?” Makoto asked.

“Tomorrow,” Rei answered while solving another problem.

Suddenly Makoto felt really bad for dragging Rei out to the festival like this, but the boy didn’t seem to regret it, so perhaps it was okay. It would be anyways if he got a passing grade.

* * *

 

And that was what happened. In fact, Rei’s studies paid off so well that it earned him a top grade for the test. This was both to his and Makoto’s relief. And Rei continued to get top grades in math through the rest of his time in school, up until he graduated from high school many years later.

Kisumi called on the day when Rei had come home with his top-grade and wanted to speak to Makoto about something important. He had just been in Tokyo for a model audition and had been accepted, like the two men had said he would be. It had turned out they were scouts, looking for new models. They hadn’t expected to find anyone by going to the festival and were originally there to catch a break, but then they had found Kisumi, and now, because of all this, Kisumi would move to Tokyo. Makoto didn’t want to imagine the sadness and disappointment that would be displayed on Rei’s and Nagisa’s faces when he had to tell them that Kisumi couldn’t come by anymore.


	12. Nightmare

It was around 2 in the morning. Rei was sound asleep like any boy who had just turned 11 would be at this time of night. It was, actually the night after his birthday. It had been two years since he and Nagisa had been adopted by Makoto.

Rei was in a dreamless sleep. He hardly ever dreamt. Unlike Nagisa, who had an unhealthily lively imagination, Rei’s imagination seemed to be somewhere between asleep and dead. He couldn’t seem to think in other than facts and calculations.

Because of this, he hardly ever awoke in the middle of night either. It happened so rarely that he usually forgot when it happened last before it could happen again.

But tonight it happened. He awoke without any reason it seemed. He laid awake and listened for a bit to the sounds around him. He could hear a storm was rising. The wind was making slightly scary noises around the corners of the house.

But as the door to Rei’s room opened, he knew, this wasn’t what awoke him. He had awoken on instinct because he subconsciously knew that a certain someone was going to come to his room shortly. Sometimes, it was as if his conscience was linked to his, like they really were related.

“Rei-chan…” Nagisa’s soft voice sounded from the door.

Rei turned and sat up in his bed and looked at Nagisa who was hugging his penguin plushy tightly. “What is it?” Rei asked as he fumbled around on his table in search for his glasses.

“I can’t sleep,” Nagisa said. “I… I had a nightmare,”

Rei decided to give up on finding his glasses and just moved on his bed and patted on the spot that was now free, signaling for Nagisa to sit there.

“Was it bad?” Rei asked as Nagisa sat on his beds and pulled his knees to his chest.

Nagisa didn’t answer at first, he just nodded his head.

“What?” Rei asked, and only then Nagisa remembered that Rei couldn’t see anything without his glasses and therefore he would have to answer by words.

“Yeah,” he answered.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Rei asked.

Nagisa turned slightly on the bed as he was facing Rei before he started explaining about his nightmare.

“Rei-chan, do you know those fairy tales where an evil stepmom is involved?” he asked.

“Like Cinderella and Snow White?” Rei asked. “You just worked with them at school didn’t you?” he asked.

Nagisa nodded. “We did,” he said. “I dreamt we got an evil stepmom,” he explained.

“Like, Makoto got married?” Rei asked.

“Yes, like that,” Nagisa confirmed. “She was really mean to us and treated us badly and Mako-chan didn’t notice this and before I knew it, I was back at the orphanage. You weren’t there… I was told…” Nagisa started sobbing at this. “I was told that our stepmom had brought me there because she didn’t think I was good for the family anymore.” He tightened his arms around the penguin so tight Rei feared he might squeeze all the filling out of it.

“You’re right,” Rei answered. “That’s no pleasant dream,”

“I’m glad you agree, Rei-chan,” Nagisa answered.

“Of course,” Rei answered. “But it won’t happen. I promise you that much,” he said as he moved closer to Nagisa on the bed and wrapped his arms around the seven-years-old.

“You mean that?” Nagisa asked.

Rei smiled. “Of course,” he said.

“But why won’t it happen?” Nagisa asked.

“There are numerous reasons why,” Rei answered. “Makoto is concerned about us, therefore I’m sure he won’t marry a woman who wouldn’t treat us properly,” he said.

“But Kisu-chan once said that Mako-chan was naïve and Ren-chan and Ran-chan says so too,” Nagisa argued. “Who says she couldn’t trick him into thinking she was kind and treat us cruelly behind his back?” he asked.

“I say so,” Rei said. “He is attentive to those he care about and I know he cares deeply about us. He says that a lot,” he smiled as Nagisa looked up at him. “Besides, if we went and told him that she was being mean to us, Makoto would listen to us and think about it,” Rei assured.

“Then… what if she put me in the orphanage, or another orphanage, before we could manage to tell him?” Nagisa asked.

Rei thought and then smiled as the answer came to his mind. “He won’t even let it go that far. He would worry if either of us went missing. If one of us were left to tell the truth, if anything he would get angry at the evil stepmom and try to get the missing one back with all his might until we were all back together,” Rei said.

Nagisa and Rei were silent for a bit as Nagisa let Rei’s words sink in and allowed himself to calm down and figure out that Rei was really right. There was no chance the nightmare would ever become real.

“Thanks, Rei-chan,” Nagisa said as he leaned closer to Rei and allowed his body to rest against the older boy’s.

Rei smiled softly. “It’s nothing. But don’t make up silly things like that again. They’re only good for scaring you, you know,” he said.

Nagisa nodded. “I know,” he muttered.

Again the two of them were silent while they were listening to the storm outside. Both of them allowed themselves to feel comfortable and safe. They could sense the body heat of the other and they knew that Makoto was taking care of them. Although he was probably asleep right now, somewhere else in the house, the fact that the two boys knew he was there and they could rely on him, was giving them more than enough comfort.

“Rei-chan?” Nagisa asked after they’d been sitting like that for a while.

“What is it, Nagisa?” Rei asked.

“I don’t want to go back to bed,” Nagisa said.

“Why not?” Rei asked.

Nagisa hesitated. “Because I fear the nightmare will come back,” he answered.

Rei sighed. They had had these conversations before, both at the orphanage and here, on more than one occasion. He knew what his line was in this and he didn’t mind, he just thought they might be getting a little too old for this.

“Do you want to stay here then?” he asked.

Nagisa looked into Rei’s face, smiled and nodded. “That’d help,” he said.

Rei moved on the bed as he was lying down and Nagisa laid down next to him, resting his head on the space next to Rei’s pillow. Rei wrapped an arm around Nagisa and hugged him softly while Nagisa hugged the penguin plushy.

“You should learn to deal with these on your own,” Rei said into Nagisa’s hair.

“I know,” Nagisa answered. “I can’t keep doing this forever. But… my classmates tend to say I’m childish, so I’d like to stay like that for a little while,”

Rei chuckled. “I didn’t think you were the type to pay attention to what others are saying about you,” he said.

“I won’t, if they were saying it behind my back and weren’t my friends. But those who are my friends are the ones saying it, kinda like a joke… I think. They laugh while they say it,”

Rei smiled. That did seem kinda like a joke. He would admit, it wasn’t very much off. When he was at the age of seven, he wouldn’t even have thought of the idea of sleeping with a plushy. He wouldn’t go sleep in someone else’s bed either just because he had a nightmare. If this was because he was mature or because he had no one to find comfort with besides Nagisa would always be unknown though.

“We should sleep,” Rei said. “We have school tomorrow.”

Nagisa yawned and nodded. “You’re right… Goodnight Rei-chan,” he muttered, already half asleep.

“Goodnight, Nagisa,” Rei answered and shortly after this, both boys had fallen asleep. There were no more bad dreams that night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the final chapter with just Rei and Nagisa living at Makoto's place. Starting next chapter. two new ones will be introduced. I'm sure you know who I'm talking about.   
> I really do hope these stories about the Free main cast being a family are still something you like.   
> Thanks for reading
> 
> Jackie


	13. Distance

Around April that year, Makoto started developing a habit of taking some long walks from time to time when he needed some time to himself. His walks led him to many places but there was one road he liked in particular. It led right past the orphanage that Rei and Nagisa had come from. It had a playground where you could often see kids play around. Today was no exception.

It was mid-July and Rei and Nagisa had their summer break. Makoto had sent them off to spend a few days with his parents at some beach.

“You really need a break,” Makoto’s mother had said.

“No, I’m fine,” Makoto insisted. “I started working over two years ago so I’ve adjusted to it and I’m doing fine. I can manage both, and they’re a great help.”

Makoto’s mother shook her head. “You’ve got good points, but I did hear your department was low on staff at the moment and you’ve been taking extra shifts for a while. I’m sure you can make it work but when you come home you need to cook and be an attentive parent. You never really got to just be a working adult without a family,” she argued.

Makoto nodded at this. “That’s true, but I don’t mind being a parent and skipping that kind of stuff. I’m fine with the way things are,” he smiled as much as he possibly could while trying to convince his mother that she didn’t need to trouble herself over him.

“Their summer break is coming up,” she said. “Even with you saying this, would you deny your father and me some time with our grandchildren? Ren and Ran just moved out this spring so it would be fun and refreshing for us to spend some time with Rei and Nagisa,” she argued.

Makoto thought that over. He was naïve, but not dumb. He knew it was just her way of phrasing the matter differently, but with this approach, he had much trouble denying it. So he gave up and allowed his parents to have Rei and Nagisa over for ten days.

After this, Ren and Ran both requested to have Rei and Nagisa over for a couple of days, and Makoto had trouble denying this as well because they’d learned from their mother and used the same argument about getting to spend time with the two children. And so it was decided that Nagisa and Rei would spend two weeks of their summer break with their other family members.

Right now, Makoto was on his walk and passing by the playground. He stopped to watch the kids play. A group of kids who were about nine years old were playing tag and running around with bright smiles on their faces. A boy with maroon hair seemed to be it. He ran towards Makoto, and this was when Makoto caught sight of the boy right in front of the fence. He was the one the maroon haired was running to.

The boy was looking out at the streets. There was a distant look in his water-blue eyes. His hair was black and the expression on his face was pretty stoic. Anyone else would consider it the perfect poker face.

“Hey Haru,” the maroon haired said. “Why don’t you come join us?” he smiled cheerfully. “Aren’t you lonely?”

The boy with the stoic face shrugged. “Not really,” he said.

The boy with maroon hair got a kinda sad look in his eyes, but his smile stayed on his face. “Just come over if you change your mind. I’m sure the others are fine with you joining, if you want,”

The boy didn’t react. He didn’t even turn to look when the maroon haired ran back to play tag with the others. There was something about that boy that peaked Makoto’s interest. He couldn’t put his finger on what that was though. So he decided to figure it out.

He approached the black haired and leaned against the other side of the fence. “You wanna go out of there, don’t you?” Makoto asked.

The boy said nothing, but Makoto could tell from the look on the boy’s face that he was right.

“What’s your name?” Makoto asked.

The boy looked at Makoto with narrowed eyes as if he was saying ‘why would I tell you?’

Makoto smiled. “Sorry,” he said. “I was just curious,” he then turned his back to the boy and went to continue his walk.

Makoto kept on thinking about the boy as he walked on. He especially thought about that longing he thought he had seen in those deep blue eyes. He wondered why the boy seemed to feel like that.

As far as he had understood from Nagisa and Rei, it hadn’t been so bad at the orphanage. They were cared for well, considering how many children there were and it didn’t seem like they had been lonely. Makoto couldn’t think of what else a child would need.

Maybe, once Nagisa and Rei came home, he should ask them about this mysterious blue-eyed boy from the playground. Maybe they knew something about him. But they hadn’t been living in the orphanage for nearly three full years, so there was a possibility that they didn’t know the boy. At any rate, he couldn’t expect them to know who the boy was from a simple description and he had no name on the boy. Giving him a random nickname would be both weird and mean, so Makoto wouldn’t do that, besides, it could cause confusion now that he thought about it.

* * *

 

“Rei, Nagisa,” Makoto said over the dining table about a week later, on the day when Rei and Nagisa had finally come home. Both children looked up.

“Do you two happen to know a blue-eyed boy with black hair at Iwatobi Adopting Center?” Makoto asked.

Rei and Nagisa exchanged looks while thinking. Nagisa was the first to give his response by shaking his head.

“I don’t remember many from there,” he answered. “It’s all rather faded…” he trailed off. “Sorry, Mako-chan,” he finished.

Makoto smiled. “It’s fine,” he said. Then he looked at Rei.

“There might have been a few of them. I’m not sure… I might remember someone like that, but I’m not sure. It could be I’m mixing things up…”

“Why do you ask?” Nagisa asked before stuffing a mouthful of rice into his face.

Makoto smiled amused at the sight and then answered. “It’s just… I’ve been walking by there a couple of times and happened to catch sight of a black-haired boy with blue eyes on the playground. He… he looked like he didn’t want to be there,” Makoto answered. “It was a little… how should I put it… weird?” Makoto got a thoughtful look on his face as he said this. He wasn’t sure of how to describe this at all, but ‘weird’ didn’t seem like the furthest off word.

“So a weird guy!” Nagisa exclaimed.

“Nagisa, it’s not nice to call someone weird,” Rei corrected him.

“But it’s true, Rei-chan. That’s what Mako-chan said too,” Nagisa answered.

Makoto laughed. “Don’t mind it. I was simply asking because I was curious. It’s not like it’s going to have further influence on you two,” he said as he turned back to eating. Rei and Nagisa did the same.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If things like Game of Thrones didn't exist, I'd probably be able to publish on time. Well, it's not as much the book's fault as it is my own forgetfulness. I'm sorry for forgetting yesterday.   
> Anyways, guess there are two "new" people in this chapter. My favorite characters in the series along with Makoto. Oh, and I'm blabbering again... sorry.   
> Thanks for reading. 
> 
> Jackie


	14. Twins

Makoto was walking by the playground yet again. He thought it was about the sixth or the seventh time he’d been by and spoken to the “weird” boy since he told Rei and Nagisa about him. It had been a little over a week since then.

Today, the boy was standing there again, staring out at the streets. Makoto stopped as he saw him there. He couldn’t help but feel that the boy was staring at him now. It felt like his gaze was burning and Makoto felt a little tense. This was unusual.

“Um… What are you looking at me like that for?” Makoto asked.

The boy looked at him and shrugged as if saying that he didn’t have a reason for doing this.

“Hey… look…” Makoto stopped, not being sure of how to approach the subject. “It… It doesn’t seem like you want me talking to you. Why is that? I understand it must be kinda weird that I’m a stranger and all but I’m really just curious because… you’re different,”

“You’re annoying,” the boy said, looking directly into Makoto’s eyes with a harsh glare.

“What?” Makoto asked, not really sure he understood. This was the first time the boy spoke to him and the first time he heard his voice since the day they met.

“I don’t want you talking to me because you’re annoying,” the boy explained, to Makoto’s surprise.

“Oh?” he asked, stepping back slightly. “I’m sorry about that… I… I understand,” he said. He really did. He would of course have acted differently if he was in this boy’s shoes, but the boy didn’t seem much like him in the first place.

“Then…” Makoto smiled. “I’ll be leaving now, excuse me,” he said before turning away from the blue-eyed and continuing his walk. However, he could still feel the boy’s gaze on his back, although, now it wasn’t burning.

* * *

 

The following day Makoto ran into a woman he recognized. She was the exact same woman who had claimed that Nagisa and Rei were more trouble than they were worth. Makoto had stopped being a swim coach when he started his actual job, so he only saw his old class when he and Rei went to pick Nagisa up after his swimming lesson.

“Tachibana-san,” She smiled at Makoto when he walked by. “I was just talking about you,” she nodded to a woman that Makoto had never seen before. “This is Tachibana who taught my daughter how to swim, he also adopted that troublesome pair of boys I told you about,”

“Don’t you regret that?” the other woman asked Makoto.

“Not really. They’re both nice and helpful,” Makoto said.

“It doesn’t seem that way from what I’ve heard,” the woman mumbled. “They sound like trouble, just like that annoying pair of twins in there,” she pointed to the playground belonging to the orphanage.

“What annoying pair of twins?” Makoto asked.

“Matsuoka Rin and Nanase Haruka,” the first woman said. “You see Nanase-kun over there,” to Makoto’s surprise she pointed to the black-haired boy with the stoic face.

“I tried speaking to him,” Makoto said. “He doesn’t seem like trouble, in fact he’s pretty quiet if I have to say anything,”

“That’s what it looks like,” the second woman snorted. “And his brother is nice too, but when they are together they get into so many arguments that you barely manage to stop them before they start another,”

“Tachibana-san, don’t tell me that you’re considering adopting those two as well,” the first woman said.

“Of course not. I figure that Nagisa and Rei are enough for the time being,” Makoto answered with a smile. “Though I’d love to have them, I’m afraid I don’t have the time,”

“That’s-“ The woman was cut off when someone exited the door to the orphanage and ran up to Makoto and grabbed his hand.

“Don’t say that!” it was the maroon haired boy. “Won’t you please take us in?” Makoto looked into the boy’s red eyes. He remembered seeing him among the other kids playing tag, the first time he noticed Haruka.

“Why are you so desperate?” Makoto asked.

“Because!” The boy met Makoto’s eyes. “I’ve seen you talk to Haru, you’re the only one who seems to understand him. He’s not doing well here, he needs someone around who understands him better than I do, he barely tells me anything!” Tears started running down the boy’s face. Makoto figured this must be Matsuoka Rin, Haruka’s twin brother.

He understood what the boy meant and he suddenly felt sorry for the twins and he could sense so much. Haruka just needed someone to understand him, and even if they fought all the time, Rin would do anything for his twin to be happy. Now that was what Makoto would call caring, and it was the bond between the twins that convinced him.

“My house is big enough for two more…” Makoto said. “Room won’t be a problem,” he then led the way into the orphanage while the two women were left behind with expressions of disbelief on their faces.

An hour later everything was in order and Makoto helped the twins gather their things while listening to warnings from a staff member of the orphanage.

“You once adopted Hazuki-kun and Ryugasaki-kun. I tell you, those two are nothing against Nanase-kun and Matsuoka-kun’s arguments. They’ve even been into real fights,”

“I’ve heard that,” Makoto said. “But I’m sure they’ll learn to stop as they grow older, and they can’t be that bad. Besides, something about them just really makes me want to get to know them better,”

Yells were then heard from one of the small bedrooms in the orphanage.

“Why’d you even do that!” a voice yelled loudly.

“Because you need someone to understand!” It was Rin answering just a bit louder than the other voice.

“I never said that!” the first yelled in the same sound-level as before.

“You hardly ever say a word except when we’re fighting,”

“You’re always picking the fights!”

“Oh yeah, then who was it this time, Haru!”

Makoto sighed before entering the room. “Would you boys mind stopping this argument?” he asked. “Now you stop yelling and make up or I’m not gonna adopt you anyway. It’s not too late for me to back out,”

Rin and Haruka both looked up and met Makoto’s eyes. Makoto did his very best to hide the fact that he didn’t mean a word of what he said and that he would adopt the two, what so ever.

It worked. Rin apologized to Haruka and Haruka nodded, also apologizing in a lower voice.

Makoto smiled. He had managed to stop their argument for the time being and maybe it would last for some time until they were home, or even better, until the following day. He led the twins out of the orphanage as soon as they were done packing.

The boys didn’t say much. Makoto figured they weren’t really comfortable because of the strict tone he’d been using earlier to calm their fight.

“Look…” he trailed off as Rin looked up at him. Haruka kept staring off to the side. “What I said earlier… about not adopting you… I didn’t mean that. I only said that to keep the two of you from fighting,” Makoto tried to explain.

Rin smiled. “It’s fine, Tachibana-san. I guess we both figured that was what you wanted, right, Haru?” he asked while looking at his twin.

Haruka didn’t answer with other than a shrug, but Makoto could tell from his eyes that he thought the same as Rin. For some reason, this made him start smiling even more.

“I’m not sure if you two realize,” he said. “But you’re more alike than you think you are,”

This caused both Rin and Haruka to look at one another with a disbelieving look. Then Rin let out a small laugh and turned away. “Haru and I? We couldn’t be more different,” he said.

Makoto continued on smiling. “That might be true, on the outside. Your appearance and personalities are both very different, but you seem to share the same opinions and I bet you are also equal in most skills,”

“Except Haru lacks the social skill,” Rin answered.

“And you lack the practical ones,” Haruka answered in return.

And with that, another argument had started. It seemed the women from before had been right regarding the problem at hand. You really just barely managed to stop the first fight before the second could break out. As it turned out, Makoto learned this way sooner than he had hoped.


	15. New

Rin and Haruka were still arguing once they were walking up the stone steps to Makoto’s house. Makoto figured that he had to stop them now or never. He felt like he needed to tell them that there were two more living in the house with him as the two were ready for it.

“Excuse me,” he said, interrupting Rin in the middle of a sentence.

Haruka turned to look at him with questioning eyes as if silently asking him what he wanted to say.

“I don’t know if you heard, but this is actually not my first time adopting,” Makoto started. As he spoke to them, he also stopped walking and turned to face the two. “A few years ago I adopted two other boys who are also living in the house.”

“Why are you telling us this?” Rin asked.

“Well… I figured it’s better if you are prepared. Especially the younger one of them tend to be very energetic and usually comes running up to me when I come home,” Makoto explained.

Both Rin and Haruka nodded and the three continued up the stone steps. They stopped at the house about half-way up, which was Makoto’s home and headed inside.

“Mako-chan!” Nagisa exclaimed as he heard the door open. As Makoto had predicted, he came running at something close to the speed of light.

“I’m home,” Makoto said as he entered. Rin and Haruka followed right behind him.

Before Nagisa could get close enough to hug Makoto, he caught sight of the two new faces and stopped suddenly. “Mako-chan, who are they?” he asked.

Rei came out of the living room and now also stood and stared at the two new boys, whom Makoto had brought home.

Makoto smiled. “These are your new brothers,” he said while thinking he could’ve found a way better way to introduce the two with a bit more time to think. “The red-haired is Matsuoka Rin and the black-haired is Nanase Haruka.”

Rei got a thoughtful expression as he watched Rin and Haruka carefully. A hint of recognition could be seen in his eyes. “From Iwatobi Adopting Center, right?” he asked.

Haruka nodded while Rin stubbornly turned his head away. It didn’t seem like he was very happy with their adoptive siblings.

“So, who are they, Tachibana-san?” Rin asked.

Makoto smiled. “I forgot to say, but just call me Makoto.” He went to introduce the other two. “The one with glasses is Ryugazaki Rei, the small blonde one is Hazuki Nagisa,” he said.

“You’re that troublesome pair,” Rin said.

“You’re the troublemakers,” Rei answered.

“Excuse me, but as far as I’ve heard, Hazuki is the troublemaker,” Rin answered.

“Rin-Rin’s picking fights,” Nagisa stated.

“Don’t call me that!” Rin yelled.

“You’re loud,” Haruka said, claiming Rin’s attention.

“Well, you’re not helping!” Rin snapped.

Makoto sighed. He hadn’t expected an all-out war between his children, and certainly not right off the bat. He had to find a way to make them stop fighting, the sooner the better.

“Okay,” he said. “Rei, Nagisa, please go to your rooms and calm down. Rin, Haruka, I’ll show you to your rooms,” he said.

Rei sent Nagisa an irritated look before he headed upstairs as the first one. Nagisa followed him soon after and Rin took off his shoes and walked as he stood at the bottom of the stairs. Haruka was the only one who didn’t respond right away.

“Haruka?” Makoto asked.

“Don’t call me that,” Haruka answered.

“That’s your name, so why not?” Makoto asked.

“It’s girly, that’s why,” Rin answered. “Haru doesn’t like it very much. Just stick to calling him Haru, like I do,” he suggested.

“Haru…” Makoto could go with that. “Is that okay with you?” he asked the nine-years-old.

Haruka thought it over, then nodded. It was either that, or the name his disliked so much, and since Rin had suggested that Makoto called him by Haru, he felt like he had to go along with it. And he also did know that he couldn’t expect for his foster father to call him by Nanase forever.

“So… Haru and Rin, I’ll show you to your rooms,” Makoto said before he took off his shoes and headed inside and up the stairs with Rin in toe. Haruka took off his shoes and followed.

There were two rooms that Makoto didn’t use. They were both completely empty and he found that they would be fine, serving as Rin’s and Haruka’s separate rooms. Once he had shown each of them to one, he went downstairs to call his parents. First off, he had to tell them that he had adopted, again. And the second reason was that he really thought he needed their advice on what to do about all these arguments between his children.

“Hello, this is at the Tachibana family,” Makoto’s mother said as she picked up.

“Hello mom,” Makoto answered. “It’s Makoto here,”

“Makoto! It’s been too long!” His mother exclaimed.

Makoto smiled awkwardly. “You came by the other day,” he reminded her.

“Oh yeah,” she laughed. “So… what do you want? Are you just calling to say hello?” she asked.

“Not exactly,” Makoto answered. “Mom… I’ve adopted again,” he said.

“Well, at least you remembered to tell us this time,” she laughed. “So, what kind of child did you get this time?” she asked.

“At the orphanage they said they were twins. Their names are Rin and Haruka,” Makoto answered. “They’re nine years old.”

“Oh? So it’s girls this time?” Makoto’s mother asked.

“No,” Makoto smiled at the mistake. “They’re boys, just like Rei and Nagisa,” he answered.

She laughed then. “That’s funny. What are the chances that in a family of five male, all five have girly names?” she asked.

“I don’t know…” Makoto said. “But… the thing is, that they don’t seem to get along too well. Rin and Haruka are always arguing, but when we came home just now they got into a fight with Rei and Nagisa too, and I don’t know how to stop it,” he said.

“Fights?” his mother asked. “Siblings do tend to fight. Remember how many times Ren and Ran could fight in a day when they were nine years old?”

Makoto smiled. “A lot,” he answered. “And half of them involved me one way or another.”

His mother laughed. “That’s true. And the other problem might simply just be because they need to adjust to one another. Especially Rei and Nagisa who suddenly have to share you with two other boys after almost three years.”

“They say about Rin and Haru that you barely manage to stop one of their fights before they pick the next one,” Makoto said. “Ren and Ran weren’t even that bad. As for the other thing, I just hope you’re right,”

“In that case, maybe you should try and split their fights as soon as possible and teach them how to get along with one another and accept their differences. Your father and I are always there to help and so are Ren and Ran if you need it. Remember that, Makoto,” she said.

Makoto nodded. “Thank you, mom,” he said. “I’ll do my best too then.”

“I know you will. I look forward to meeting the new addition to your family,” she said. “I hope they all learn to get along.”

“Believe me, I hope so too,” Makoto answered. “Well, bye for now, mom,” he said.

“Goodbye Makoto, best of luck,” his mother said before they both hung up.

* * *

 

Makoto didn’t let either of his children out until it was time for them to have dinner. While they ate, he spent most of the time asking Rin and Haruka questions, as he would get to know them better. Rin was the one answering most of them while Haruka just silently sat and ate.

Nagisa was also not saying anything while they ate, but this seemed to be for a different reason. Where Haruka just seemed to be silent by nature, Nagisa had a bitter aura around him. This also seemed to affect Rei slightly. He too didn’t say much, and once they were done eating, Nagisa dragged Rei upstairs and into his room, locking the door behind them. Rin and Haruka also just returned to their separate rooms.


	16. Planning

“I don’t like them,” Nagisa stated once he had closed the door behind himself and Rei. The older boy had seated himself on Nagisa’s bed and was watching as the younger came over and sat beside him.

“Why is that?” Rei asked.

“They’re weird,” Nagisa declared.

Rei thought about it. “That’s not a very good reasoning,” he said

Nagisa pouted. “I don’t want them here,” he said.

“I agree with you on that,” Rei answered, causing Nagisa to send him a surprised look. “Especially Matsuoka-kun. He doesn’t like me either it seems.”

“How do you figure?” Nagisa asked.

“It’s his attitude,” Rei said.

“What with the other... what was his name again?” Nagisa asked.

“Nanase-kun,” Rei answered. “I don’t dislike him. He doesn’t seem to dislike me either. In fact, he doesn’t seem to care much about anything. He is hard to comprehend.”

“He’s weird,” Nagisa said. “He doesn’t even seem to like Mako-chan, so why was he adopted?”

“No clue,” Rei answered honestly.

They were silent for a bit, until Nagisa got a good idea.

“Rei-chan!” he said, grabbing a strong hold of Rei’s arm and shaking him violently. “I’ve got a plan! I’ve got a plan!” he yelled.

“Stop shaking me and calm down, Nagisa,” Rei whined.

Nagisa stopped and looked up at Rei with a wide smile. “Let’s make them want to leave. If they want to go back, Mako-chan won’t stop them!” he said.

Rei eyed Nagisa with hesitation in his eyes. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea…” he said.

“I don’t want them, you don’t want them, and they don’t want us or Mako-chan either, so what’s the problem?” Nagisa asked.

Rei thought about it and nodded. “Okay…” he said. “But we need to be sure we don’t take things too far. If we do, I’ll put the blame on you alone,” he said.

“Rei-chan’s so mean!” Nagisa complained.

* * *

 

Rin couldn’t sleep. It wasn’t because he was sleeping in a room of his own for the very first time or because he was at a new place. He was just kept up thinking about those other two kids. He thought he had done everything to help Haruka, but now those two showed up.

To Rin, those two other kids, Rei and Nagisa, were a hindrance. He wanted nothing more than for Haruka to be happier than he had been at the orphanage and for that to happen, he needed someone who understood him. Makoto lived up to the task. He seemed to be able to understand Haruka way easier than Rin could ever hope to do.

But Rei and Nagisa could take attention away from Haruka, who really needed it. Especially Nagisa was to be considered a potential threat. He had a lot of energy, he was way too cheerful and way too distracting. And Rei was obviously on his side.

What Rin was thinking about, was a way to get those two out of the picture, for Haruka’s sake. But he was no creative thinker. This had been clear since he and Haruka were little. Haruka was the one who got the good ideas and then he and Rin would carry them out together.

So Rin got out of his futon and exited his room to go to Haruka’s. Thankfully, they were across from each other so he wouldn’t have to sneak past anyone.

Rin opened the door and entered the room. He closed the door carefully behind him and went to sit beside Haruka and prepared to shake him awake.

However, Haruka sat up as Rin sat beside him and went to flip the switch for the lamp in the room. Then he returned to his futon and looked at Rin with questioning eyes.

“We need to get those other two out,” Rin answered.

“Why?” Haruka asked.

“We just do,” Rin said, not wanting to explain his reasoning. He might care about Haruka, and Haruka might care about him, but they never voiced it. In fact they tried their hardest to never let it show. That was the unspoken rule between them.

“How?” Haruka asked then.

“That’s what I need you for,” Rin said. “We have to figure out a plan.”

Haruka rolled his eyes to show Rin how crazy he thought he was. All this enthusiasm was annoying too. Actually, all Haruka wanted was to go back to sleep. He was tired.

“Come on Haru, help me think here!” Rin exclaimed after a few minutes of silence.

Haruka then decided to think up one idea. Then he could say he had helped out. Besides, Rin wouldn’t leave him alone until they’d got some kind of idea, and it was more likely for a mackerel to grow wings and fly than it was for Rin to get an idea before Haruka did.

As Haruka had predicted, it only took him a couple of minutes to come up with something that might work out.

“We could make them fight amongst themselves,” he said.

“How do we do that?” Rin asked.

Haruka shrugged. He figured he’d helped enough.

“Come on, Haru. I need more than that!” Rin exclaimed.

Haruka placed a finger on his lips to hush Rin down. “You’ll wake Makoto,” he said. Then he continued as the idea took shape in his head. “We start a huge argument and make them take different stands,” he said.

A smile took form on Rin’s face as he met Haruka’s eyes. “You’re a genius, Haru,” he said.

“Go to bed,” Haruka just said, not feeling the slightest bit flattered from Rin’s compliment. He said that every time Haruka came up with a good idea.

“Yeah, yeah,” Rin said as he got up. “So, when do we carry it out?” he asked.

“We get to know them a bit first,” Haruka said.

Rin sighed. “It’s long-term?” He couldn’t believe they couldn’t carry this plan out right away. He figured the sooner they got rid of Rei and Nagisa the better, but it seemed they’d have to do some waiting first.

“Go to bed,” Haruka repeated himself.

“I’m going,” Rin snapped before he went out and closed the door behind him. He then returned to his own bedroom and laid down to sleep. He continued on thinking about the matter of getting rid of Rei and Nagisa.

Rin was no fool. He had already figured that it wasn’t even sure that Haruka’s plan would actually work, no matter how many preparations they made. They had to be smart on this one. Rin had heard the name Hazuki Nagisa before and knew that this boy was an infamous troublemaker. He had also seen that Rei and Nagisa, especially the latter, seemed to have taken a disliking to him and Haruka. He was pretty sure that Haruka had noticed this as well. With Nagisa as their opponent, who knew what trouble could come their way?

This was why Rin was so dissatisfied with the long-term plan Haruka had come up with. If they were to win this game they needed to be ahead of the troublemaker and his companion. They needed to outsmart them and cause more trouble for them.

But if they could succeed their plan, they would clearly have the upper hand. If troublemaker and companion were split up, none of them would get very far.

A war was rising in the house of the Tachibana family and poor naïve Makoto was the only one who didn’t know of this fact.


	17. Water

The following day was Makoto’s day off. He had planned to spend some of the day on sleeping in and then he had thought it would be a good idea to visit his parents, to have them introduced to Rin and Haruka as soon as possible.

But the former plan was cut short when someone came running down the hallway and tore the door to Makoto’s room open, causing Makoto’s eyes to snap open and he sat up quickly.

“What’s going on?” he asked as he saw Rin standing in the doorway.

“Haru’s taking up the bathtub and refuses to leave!” Rin exclaimed. The irritation was obvious on his face.

“His bath was cut a little short last night,” Makoto said, taking it fairly easy.

“That’s not what I mean!” Rin was frustrated because of Makoto’s attitude towards the problem. In his opinion it was a really big deal. “He has been there for over an hour and a half!”

Makoto looked a bit surprised. He knew some people liked taking long baths, but over an hour and a half seemed a bit too long, even for a long bath. Suddenly he felt worried and decided to get up and check on the blue-eyed boy in the bathroom.

There was no reason for him to be worried. Once he entered the bathroom, Haruka’s head rose from the surface of the water and he turned his head to look at Makoto with irritation.

“Rin says you’ve been in here for a while?” Makoto asked.

Haruka shook his head.

“You’ve been here for over an hour and a half,” Makoto stated.

“That’s not long,” Haruka stated.

Makoto smiled. “Look,” he said as he approached the tub. “Everyone needs a bath so you need to get out now and get dressed.” He reached out his hand to help Haruka out of the tub, but the boy didn’t take it. Instead he pushed it aside and got out of the tub on his own.

Makoto couldn’t help but feel a little hurt by this action, but he didn’t say anything as he watched Haruka leave the bathroom. At least he had done as he’d been told.

* * *

 

They left the house a little before noon and headed towards the station. Nagisa spent the entire walk speaking to Makoto and Rei joined in on the conversation at times. Rin and Haruka were walking behind them. Neither of them were saying a word. They didn’t speak while riding the train either. Actually they didn’t speak until they had walked half way from the station to Makoto’s parents’ house.

“Where are you going?” Rin asked.

“Over there,” Haruka directed Rin’s attention through his eyes. It seemed he was looking at a pool belonging to a private high school.

“Don’t,” Rin said. “It’d be trespassing,”

Haruka didn’t seem to care. He just started walking off in the direction of the pool.

“Idiot,” Rin said before following his twin.

“What are they up to?” Makoto wondered.

“Trespassing,” Rei answered. He had been listening to their conversation. He figured he would need to learn as much about their enemy as possible.

“That’s really bad!” Makoto exclaimed before he started running after Rin and Haruka.

Rei and Nagisa exchanged looks before they too ran after Makoto and the others to see how this would end.

Once Makoto reached the pool at the private high school, an interesting sight met him. He saw two small piles of clothes lying by the poolside. As for the owners of the clothes, they could both be located in the pool. It appeared they were racing.

“This is bad… this is really bad…” Makoto said as Rin and Haruka made the turn and started swimming back. Sadly Makoto wouldn’t dare to do anything other than wait for the two to return.

“Nii-chan!” Now they could hear someone come running from behind as well and Nagisa turned as the first one with an excited smile on his face as he recognized the voice.

“Ran-chan! Ren-chan!” Nagisa yelled as he smiled widely at Makoto’s younger twin siblings.

“Ren, Ran?” Makoto now turned as well to look at the two.

“What are you doing here?” Ren asked as he and Ran entered the school grounds.

“Eh…” Makoto trailed off before looking down at the pool which Rin and Haruka were now climbing out of, well aware that they had done something they shouldn’t have.

“We were on our way to visit mom and dad when Rin and Haruka, whom I adopted yesterday, ran off to here,” Makoto said.

“So those are the new ones?” Ran asked interested.

“Yeah,” Makoto said.

“Mom did say you might come by today to introduce the two to them,” Ren said. “We won’t miss that for the world!” he smiled.

Makoto smiled too. “Do they know you’re coming by too?” Makoto asked.

“We’ve already been there and were sent down to buy sodas for everyone,” Ran said. “Hey, now that the boys over there have gotten dressed, let’s get back!” she added excitedly.

Makoto turned to see that indeed Rin and Haruka had gotten their clothes back on. Rin looked shamefully down at the ground while Haruka kept looking back at the pool.

“Why are you looking like that, Rin?” Makoto asked.

“Aren’t you angry? We went trespassing and started racing in the pool and instead of stopping Haru, I just followed,” Rin said. He then turned to Haruka. “Way to go off with first impressions by the way. We were only just adopted yesterday you know!”

Haruka turned to look at Rin. “As you said, you should’ve stopped me,” he answered.

“Keep yourself in check. I’m not here to do it,” Rin answered.

“Then stop acting like you are,” Haruka answered.

“I’m not!” Rin yelled.

“You are!” Haruka answered a tiny bit lower.

“Stop arguing,” Makoto said, trying to break in between them. “I’m not angry with you or anything. I’m not going to deny that what you did was wrong, but as long as you realize that, it’s fine.” He smiled at both Rin and Haruka. “Now, let’s get going. It seems my parents are waiting.”

Rin and Haruka nodded before Rin remembered something and looked up at Makoto and then at Ren and Ran.

“So… who are those two?” he asked.

Ren and Ran looked slightly surprised before they turned to Makoto with reproachful expressions. Makoto got a guilty look on his face as he introduced his younger siblings to his two new children. Then they headed to Makoto’s parents’ house and more introductions were made.

Ren and Ran took over with the cooking while Makoto’s parents spoke to Makoto and all his children. This resulted in Rin and Haruka starting a new argument because Rin didn’t think Haruka was making an attempt to get to know Makoto’s parents to which Haruka denied.

Makoto stepped in and stopped the argument but then Haruka started accusing Rin for causing trouble and Rin shot back at him with the incident at the private high school. It took Makoto way longer to stop this argument than the other one and it ended up resulting in Haruka walking upstairs. Makoto’s mother followed him but came down shortly after.

“How is he?” Makoto asked.

“He’s not crying or anything,” the mother said. “He asked politely if he could borrow our bathtub and I told him yes and showed him to the bathroom.”

Makoto looked thoughtful at that. “I wonder what that means,” he said. Then he looked to Rin, who shrugged in response.

“I don’t know why he does that,” he said. “But it’s not unusual for him to do after some of our fights. Either that or he goes for a swim.” Rin now smiled. “Sometimes, I think he feels more at home in the water than on dry land.”

“That’s kinda like a fish,” Nagisa said.

“Or a mermaid,” Ran butted in from the kitchen. “Mom… are these non-wash rice?” she asked.

“No… Ran did you not wash them before boiling them?” Makoto’s mother asked.

Ran didn’t answer, but the silence and the way she had asked could only be interpreted one way.

And so the lunch was delayed because of Ran’s mistake and Haruka got a little more time in the bathtub than expected.


	18. Acceptance

Lunch went rather peacefully in Makoto’s opinion. There was nothing but cheerful conversations around the table it seemed. Needless to say that neither Rin nor Haruka said a single word. Nagisa, on the other hand, was talking to Makoto’s mother and Rei was listening to Makoto’s conversation with his siblings.

“Are you sure they’re twins, nii-chan?” Ren asked.

“Yeah,” Ran added. “I mean, they look nothing alike and they act nothing alike.”

Makoto looked confused. “You two don’t look or act alike either,” he reminded them.

“They’re different,” Ran said. “Ren and I are both weird but Rin is normal and Haruka is really weird. They can’t be twins when they’re so different. Where did you even hear that from?”

“Ran, it’s not very polite to ask that so directly,” Makoto corrected her.

“You’re acting like a boy,” Ren said.

“And you’re asking way too shyly. How are we gonna get an answer if we just keep wrapping up the question?” Ran asked him.

“There are other ways!” Ren stated.

“You’re such a girl,” Ran answered.

“Last time I checked, only one of us were a girl and it wasn’t me,” Ren shot back at her.

“I’m proud of it!” Ran said, crossing her arms.

“You just put your own gender down,” Ren said.

“Calm down you two,” Makoto said. “No one says a gentle approach is more feminine. I would approach such a topic more gently as well. It’s only polite to do so.”

“I wouldn’t,” Rin said. “If you approach things directly, you usually reach your goals in a both faster and better way.”

“Makoto, if you need Rin and Haru separated, I’ll gladly take Rin in,” Ran declared.

Makoto laughed. “Hopefully that won’t be needed, but thanks for the offer, Ran,” he said.

They continued the conversation until they were all done eating and spent the rest of the afternoon just talking. Rin started taking part in the conversations with Makoto and his family members, Nagisa and Rei excluded, but Haruka didn’t talk to anyone. In fact, he only seemed to distance himself more from the others. Makoto picked up on this.

* * *

 

The family came home way later than Makoto had intended for them to return and therefore he sent all his children to bed. Nagisa went first, Rin and Haruka did a round of rock-paper-scissors deciding that Haruka would go first and Rin followed. Rei went last because he was the oldest. Makoto stayed up for a bit longer to read an old assignment he had written about blood-samples.

After he had finished reading, he went to bed as well. But he didn’t sleep for long.

Makoto immediately knew what had awoken him in the middle of the night. It was the sound of the door to the yard downstairs, sliding open. He hurried up. He didn’t know why anyone would open that door when it was in the middle of the night, so his first thought was that it was a thief who was breaking in.

But as Makoto had made his way to the hallway he thought he remembered that he’d locked the door before he went to bed. This only made him wonder even more about what it could be that had caused the door to open. Could it be one of his children?

Makoto walked downstairs and into the living room. He could then see the back of the person who had opened the door. He could see the slender body and the black hair, which the moon shone down upon. He could easily recognize Haruka.

Makoto decided then to just go and sit next to the boy. He knew he shouldn’t start speaking right away. Haruka was one of those people who communicated better through actions and facial expressions than through words.

Haruka watched Makoto sit through the corner of his eye. He said nothing either as the man sat down and started just watching the moonlight above them. They sat like this for a while until Makoto broke the silence.

“You couldn’t sleep?” he asked.

“Not really,” Haruka answered.

“Why not?” Makoto asked.

Haruka decided not to answer that question. He didn’t want to. In his opinion, that was none of Makoto’s concern.

“Is something bothering you?” Makoto asked.

Haruka didn’t answer this question either. Normally people would leave him alone if he didn’t answer their questions. That was how it had been at the orphanage. Only Rin would try, but he would end up either provoking Haruka or getting provoked in the process and they would start fighting.

“Something is bothering you.” For some reason, Haruka thought he could hear a smile in Makoto’s voice. “Do you mind telling me what it is?” the man asked.

“Wha-“ Haruka cut himself off. He had been about to just blurt out with his problem like he was speaking to someone whom he trusted. Why was that? Was it because Makoto had seemed to be able to read his silences correctly so far?

“It’s better to say it to someone than bare it all by yourself,” Makoto said, and this convinced Haruka to talk.

“Makoto, do you think Rin and I are really twins?” Haruka asked.

Makoto turned to look at Haruka with questioning eyes. “What brought this up?”

Haruka hesitated. “What Ren and Ran said earlier,” he answered.

Makoto smiled. “Did it get to you that much?” he asked, concerned.

“All our lives, Rin and I were told that we were twins, related by blood, and brought to the orphanage at the same time. We grew up, relying on one another because of that,” Haruka said.

Makoto understood how Haruka felt. For him, as long as he could remember, he had used Rin as some kind of stability and Haruka had probably been the same for Rin. If what Ren and Ran had questioned earlier was true, it would turn both their worlds completely upside down and they would find it harder to use one another for stabilization.

“On the day I adopted the two of you, I spoke to some women outside the orphanage. They referred to you as twins so that’s what I believe,” Makoto said.

“Just because they say so?” Haruka asked, doubtfully.

“There is that,” Makoto said. “But it is also because you have a bond that you don’t find with other people than those who are related by blood. You argue a lot, and a lot more than most siblings, but I can tell that you care deeply for one another and love each other despite the arguments. Rei and Nagisa, for example, have a strong bond, but I’m not sure it would last through an argument as it is,” Makoto explained.

Haruka nodded.

“At any rate, I’m a hundred percent certain that you are related by blood, so as long as we don’t know anything, it might be best if you continue to believe in that,” Makoto said while smiling.

Haruka nodded once more at Makoto’s word. Despite him only having known Makoto for a shorter while and not knowing if he was just saying these things or if there was truth to these words, he felt like he could rely on him and he wanted to believe that his words were true even if they turned out not to be.

Haruka was surprised to realize that he had unconsciously accepted Makoto as his guardian. He would never say it, but he even found that a small part of his mind was actually happy that Rin had demanded Makoto to adopt them the other day.

A yawn escaped Haruka then and Makoto smiled.

“You should go back to bed,” he said.

“You should too,” Haruka answered.

“Let’s go together then,” Makoto said.

In the dark in the living room, Rin silently got up. He had been listening to some of the conversation, but now he had to hurry back to bed if he didn’t want to be found.

Further inside the dark, in the hallway, Rei also got up as he saw Rin stand. He quickly snuck up the stairs, not wanting to be figured out by anyone. It seemed he would have to reconsider his opinion about these new boys.


	19. Progress

It was on the first day after summer break. It was still early in the morning and Makoto had just gotten out of bed to get ready for the new day. He had no concerns so far. Rin and Haruka had been enrolled in the same school as Rei and Nagisa, in their third year.

Makoto was in the middle of pulling on his pants when he heard running footsteps in the hallway and his door was torn open only moments later.

“Makoto!” It was Rin in the doorway. “Haru has taken up the bathtub and refuses to leave!” he exclaimed.

Makoto sighed. He had almost adjusted to this. It wasn’t the first time Rin came running to him with this problem. He had to go get Haruka out of the bathtub now, he knew as much.

He went past Rin and to the bathroom where he opened the door to see Haruka’s head raise from the surface.

“Good morning, Haru,” Makoto said as Haruka looked at him through the corner of his eye.

As expected, the boy didn’t respond.

“Haru, I hate to say this, but the others need access to the bathroom as well so you need to get out of the tub.”

Haruka just turned to face Makoto fully. He lowered his head as his face was half under the surface and Makoto let out a small sigh. He went over to the bathtub and extended his hand towards the black haired.

“Come on,” he said. “You need to get up. You have school today like the others,” he said, smiling.

Haruka’s hand slowly showed from his surface and before Makoto realized it, Haruka had placed his hand in Makoto’s extended one and he pulled softly, signaling for Makoto that he could go ahead with his action.

Makoto made a surprised face before he tightened his grip around Haruka’s hand and pulled the boy to a standing position.

He looked down at the boy to see that he was wearing a pair of swimming trunks while in the bath and he smiled, slightly surprised by this as well.

“Isn’t it the point for one not to wear a swimsuit when in the bath?” Makoto asked.

Haruka looked down at himself and then stepped out of the tub. “I feel better wearing them,” he said as he went past Makoto and grabbed a towel.

Makoto stood still, staring at Haruka’s back as he was about to exit the room.

“The others needed to use the room,” Haruka stated before walking out. This was clearly a demand for Makoto to get out as well and Makoto had no choice but to do just that while keeping down chuckles. He couldn’t believe that he was being ordered around by a nine-years-old.

Makoto left the room as well and went to finish getting himself dressed while Rin, Rei and Nagisa took turns going to the bathroom.

It had been about the third or fourth time he had been doing this since he had had that conversation with Haruka, right after adopting him and Rin. Haruka had done as he had been told from the first time, but it wasn’t until today when he had accepted Makoto’s outstretched hand. What did this mean though? Clearly it was a sign of development in their relationship, but Makoto wasn’t sure how much he should read into it. He was aware that he might be the only one who could extend his hand to Haruka and expect it to be accepted, or could he? Was this just once in a life-time or was there something more to it? What did it even mean? Could it be that Haruka was more obedient now, or did it mean he felt they were close enough to do this? As Makoto finished dressing himself and came out of the bathroom after brushing his teeth, he was still thinking about the matter.

* * *

 

Once they had had breakfast and washed up, everyone went to put on their shoes and then left the house. Makoto locked the door behind them and went to the hospital, trusting that Rei could take care of leading Rin and Haruka to the school and take care of Nagisa.

Rei did lead them to the school and to the faculty room because none of them knew what class Rin and Haruka would be in. After this, Rei and Nagisa went to their own classes.

Rin and Haruka were lucky, they ended up running into their homeroom teacher just before he left the faculty room and they walked with him to the class. He told them to stand at the front while he wrote their names on the board. Thankfully they were put in the same class.

“These are the new students who will join our class starting today,” the teacher said. “Please introduce yourselves,” he told Rin and Haruka.

“Hi, I’m Matsuoka Rin,” Rin said as he had been told. “I’m from Shino Elementary. I know my name sounds girly, but I’m properly male. It’s nice to meet you!” he said and finished with a wide grin.

“I’m Nanase Haruka from Shino Elementary. Nice to meet you,” Haruka said in a much lower volume than Rin.

“It’s nice to meet you too,” the teacher said. “Matsuoka-kun, you can sit over there by the wall, Nanase-kun, you can sit in the far corner by the window,” he instructed the two to take their seats and waited for them to do so before he began the class.

“Lucky you,” Rin whispered to Haruka as they went to their different seats. Haruka didn’t give a response. He didn’t care where he ended up sitting. It wasn’t any important anyways.

As the day progressed, Rin seemed to make more friends. He spoke to everyone sitting around him and was drawing all the attention towards himself with his cheerful attitude and open personality. Haruka, on the other hand, was just sitting by himself, not socializing with anybody

* * *

 

Makoto was home late in the afternoon, he noticed how only two pairs of shoes were left in front of the door. He could recognize both Rei’s and Nagisa’s shoes but he wondered where Rin and Haruka had disappeared to.

“I’m home!” he called.

“Welcome home!” Rei called back from the living room. When Makoto entered, he could see that Rei and Nagisa were busy studying.

“Where are Rin and Haruka?” Makoto asked.

“Don’t know,” Rei answered. He looked to Nagisa who looked up with questioning eyes.

“I don’t know either…” he said.

“You said you ran into them after school, right?” Rei asked.

“I saw them, I didn’t speak to them,” Nagisa answered.

“Where?” Makoto asked.

Nagisa smiled sheepishly and placed a hand at the back of his head. He let out a soft laugh before speaking. “Sorry Mako-chan, I don’t remember,” he said.

Makoto nodded, feeling worried. He wondered where Rin and Haruka could have gone off to and where Nagisa had seen them. Surely they couldn’t have gone far. He had faith in them. He had faith that they would come back. Rin had said so, and he had made great progress in his relationship with Haruka… or so he thought at least.

He decided to go cook, but couldn’t help but continue to be worried until the point where the door opened, right before he was about to serve the food and Rin and Haruka entered, both completely out of breath.

“I beat you! I was first!” Rin declared.

“Whatever,” Haruka breathed as he took off his shoes. “We’re home,” he said.

“We’re home,” Rin said too.

“Welcome home,” Makoto answered. “Where were you, I was getting worried,” he said.

Rin looked at him from the door into the kitchen. He had removed his shoes and was now standing there with a bag over his shoulder. “Didn’t Nagisa tell you?” he asked. “We went to the swimming club for training!” he said this like it should be obvious, but Makoto had heard nothing of this until now.

“Since when did you start that?” Makoto asked.

“We’ve both been swimming since we were very young,” Rin replied. “First on teams to learn how to swim, but we’re too old now and are free to just train whatever we feel we need. However, we were taught the butterfly stroke today!” he smiled excitedly.

Makoto smiled too. “That sounds interesting… when did you run into Nagisa?” he asked then.

Rin thought. “He had a lesson when we came in. They stopped in the middle of practice to watch me and Haru race for some odd reason,” he answered.

Makoto turned around to look at Nagisa who pretended to be buried in his textbook. “Is that true, Nagisa?” he asked.

“Oh yeah! Now I remember!” Nagisa exclaimed. “We stopped practice at some point…” he trailed off before going back to his homework. He didn’t say another word and Makoto didn’t ask him further.

At the moment, the man was just happy that Rin and Haruka were home, safe and sound, and hadn’t left him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter will be published later today, if I remember. The timeline is somewhat parallel with this one. You'll know what it's about once it's up.   
> If I, against most odds, should forget to publish later on or tomorrow, I want to tell you that I will not be publishing until Friday next week because I'm going on a trip with my class early Sunday morning and I won't be home until late Thursday night. Now you know.   
> Thanks for reading.
> 
> Jackie


	20. Practice

(A little earlier that same day)

Because Nagisa was in 2nd grade, he was a bit earlier off than the older students. This suited perfectly with his swim practice at the swimming club. He went home to drop his school bag and pick up the bag he used for swimming practice. Then he went to swimming practice with the kids his own age.

Nagisa was that type of person who could make friends wherever he went. Some would of course take a disliking to him because of his energetic personality, but most seemed to like him, so he always had someone to talk to, no matter where he went. He also got well along with those he had been swimming with since he started swimming.

Mikio, whom had teased Nagisa with his name on the first day, was still attending practice. He was the one whom Nagisa got the best along with, if he had to point someone out.

“Hey, Nagisa, you wanna race me in breaststroke?” Mikio asked.

“Sure, Miki-chan,” Nagisa said. It wasn’t like he cared for the race, but he competed with Mikio sometimes to see if they’d improved any. Especially Mikio had become eager to race Nagisa lately because he had lost the past few ones.

Both lined up by two of the lanes in the pool, the furthest ones from the entrance, and prepared to race one another.

“Shouldn’t you use the front crawl instead?” a girl from their practice group asked.

“I prefer the breast stroke and Nagisa and I are both specializing in it,” Mikio replied. “Mind keeping an eye on who makes it first?” he asked with only a short pause as he could breath.

“Uh… sure,” the girl said as she prepared to watch them closely. She also gave them the signal and Nagisa and Mikio both jumped into the water.

Both boys did their utmost to win the race, but Mikio was still slow. He and Nagisa were even in speed until the turn, but then Mikio messed up and fell behind. After the turn, Nagisa’s speed also increased, widening the gap between them even more.

Needless to say that Nagisa finished first and looked up at the girl who was supposed to watch them. He then noticed how her attention had gone elsewhere, to the opposite side of the pool where a coach was now instructing some older kids on how to do the butterfly stroke, or he was trying to at least.

“Nanase! Get back here!” he yelled angrily at someone in the pool.

“What’s going on over there?” Mikio asked as he climbed out of the pool. Nagisa followed him quickly and both boys turned to stare at the other pool.

A group of third graders were standing by the poolside, both boys and girls. One boy was trying to hold back chuckles as the coach struggled to convince another boy, who was swimming the front crawl in the pool, that he had to get up and listen to the lesson.

“Nanase, get out of there!” he yelled.

The laughing boy stopped his fit to tell the coach something. “Haru’s probably not gonna pay attention anyways. He only swims free,” the boy said.

It was around this time when Nagisa noticed the maroon hair that was visible under the boy’s white swimming cap. Maroon was an unusual hair color and therefore Nagisa quickly deducted that this could be none other than Rin, and the boy in the pool would have to be Haruka. He wondered what they were doing here. He hadn’t noticed them here before.

“He has to learn the other strokes as well!” The coach yelled angrily. “Get out now, Nanase,”

Haruka finished a lab then and started climbing out of the pool, slowly. He then went back to the rest of the group with a reluctant expression on his face.

The coach continued the lesson and Nagisa’s practice continued as well while the older kids were taught how to do the butterfly stroke right. Nagisa glanced over at them a couple of times. He noticed that Rin was doing well at the butterfly and then Haruka’s turn came up. He made flaws like everyone else and was yelled at like everyone else, except Rin. Surprisingly enough, Rin did the butterfly really well in comparison to the others.

After a while, Nagisa’s coach called them over as he could speak to them about their improvements before practice ended, but at this time, something happened at the other pool that made all heads turn.

“Nanase! You’re supposed to swim butterfly, not free!” the coach yelled.

“I told you this earlier, coach,” Rin said. “Haru has always said that he only swims free,” he was standing on the starting block, waiting for Haruka to hit the wall at his end and make another turn. As he did, Rin too jumped in the water, and both started swimming front crawl as fast as they possibly could, leaving everyone who was watching, gaping.

“They’re really fast!” Mikio exclaimed, excitedly.

Nagisa didn’t comment. He was annoyed with the two and didn’t want to feel anything other towards them, than hate. Therefore he tried to distinguish the slight admiration that was awakening inside him. He didn’t want to feel it. He didn’t want to think other of his new foster brothers than that they should get out of his life with Makoto and Rei.

Yet, other thoughts were coming into his mind as well. Thoughts about if he could get to swim like that someday. He was especially admiring Haruka for how easily he was moving through the water. He seemed to feel as much at home in the water as a dolphin.

Also Rin was talented. He seemed to be on a whole different level than what was normal for a place like this, same with Haruka actually.

No one took their gaze from the two boys until they had completed their race and touched the wall at almost the same time. Rin punched the surface of the water right after his feet had hit the ground.

“This sucks!” he yelled in slight frustration and irritation.

“You picked the fight,” Haruka reminded him.

Rin smiled. “True,” he answered before climbing out of the water. Haruka followed him shortly after. Both kept an aura around them like they’d done nothing wrong and technically they hadn’t, aside from disobeying their coach, who was still slightly furious, but also he was taken aback by their swimming, and therefore he said nothing.

“That was amazing,” Mikio said. He then turned to their own coach. “Is there a chance we could swim like those two one day?” he asked.

Their coach looked unsure. “That requires a lot of talent,” he said. “But I suppose you can, if you work really hard on your training. Especially on your front crawl and backstroke,” he added with a smile. “All of you seem more secure in the breast stroke, which is not bad, but I do want you to improve in all your strokes, especially improve them before you can begin learning the butterfly stroke,” he smiled as he finished.

“Okay!” Everyone yelled and they were dismissed for the day.

Nagisa went home alone. He wondered if Makoto knew that Rin and Haruka were swimming. Had they told him? No matter. It was none of Nagisa’s concern. He had to go home and study now. It would be a while before Rin and Haruka returned anyways. They seemed to be good with swimming, and since they were third graders, they had permission to stay until the swimming club closed up for children at six.

When Nagisa came home, he didn’t tell Rei about him seeing Rin and Haruka at the swimming club. He wanted to know if Makoto had been told.

So when Makoto came home and had to ask where Nagisa had seen Rin and Haruka when running into them, Nagisa knew that they hadn’t and this irritated him. He disliked them for being so disrespectful towards Makoto’s kindness.

But when Rin and Haruka came home and Rin said that he had seen Nagisa at the swimming club and did inform Makoto, Nagisa could do nothing but pretend he had forgotten. He was very well aware that he should’ve been the one to say it, if he had wanted the best for everyone. But this wasn’t what he had wanted, and therefore, Makoto couldn’t know that he had lied earlier.


	21. Warzone

It was a Saturday in November. Because a flue epidemic was attacking the town, swimming had been canceled and the club was closed for all activities. This meant that Rei, Nagisa, Rin and Haruka were to spent all afternoon by themselves in Makoto’s house while trying to get along as best as they could.

“I’m bored,” Nagisa said.

“Don’t you have some studying to do?” Rei asked.

“No, I finished long ago!” Nagisa exclaimed.

“Then stop bothering the rest of us,” Rin snapped. “Haru, how do I solve this?” he asked.

“How would I know?” Haruka asked back while concentrating on his own homework. Unlike Nagisa, the three older boys were trying to study, but Nagisa wasn’t up for this.

“You two are so boring!” he yelled at Rin and Haruka. He didn’t want to pin the blame on Rei because he believed that he and Rei were on the same side.

“And you’re so annoying!” Rin yelled while turning to Nagisa. “What’s your problem?” he asked.

Nagisa didn’t say a word at first, but then it came. “You,” he said coldly.

“Nagisa!” Rei exclaimed in slight surprise. He hadn’t expected Nagisa to be so direct.

Rin let out a sharp laugh. “Likewise,” he said. “I wish you two weren’t here!” he yelled.

“If you’ve got such a big problem with us, then you should leave!” Nagisa yelled.

“You seem to have got a bigger problem with us, so maybe you should leave,” Rin snapped.

“Rin!” Haruka yelled, trying to claim Rin’s attention, but at the moment, Rin seemed to be deaf to anyone but the younger blonde boy.

“You leave or I’ll make you!” Nagisa yelled.

“You leave!” Rin yelled back.

Nagisa then got up and went upstairs to get something. He came running back downstairs and went to the kitchen. The remaining three could hear him messing with something, probably toys or something, and then he came back into the living room and shot tomato sauce at Rin. In the same time, he tossed a water-gun to Rei, who caught it with insecure hands.

Rin looked up in time to take the hit in his face and tomato sauce started running down from his chin and dripping onto his lap. An irritated look also started appearing on his face as he glared at Nagisa.

Haruka was more concentrated on observing the gun in Rei’s hand, knowing that there was a lesser chance that he would get shot by Rei. He recognized the water-gun. It was a gift from Makoto’s parents. They had given them one each in hopes that it would help all four of them get along better. That had been while they still had their summer break.

“You little…” Rin trailed off in lack of a word that was insulting enough that Nagisa would actually feel offended. He didn’t find any.

“Let’s go, Rei-chan!” Nagisa yelled before shooting at Rin once more, causing Rin to get even more irritated.

“Haru!” Rin turned to Haruka. “Help me here!”

Haruka had absolutely no interest in doing such. This wasn’t his fight to begin with. Rin was the one who had picked the fight with Nagisa so he would have to respond back on his own, regardless of the fact that Nagisa had dragged Rei into this so they were now two against one. This was not Haruka’s fi-

Before Haruka could finish his thoughts, Nagisa’s gun was aimed at him, and tomato sauce splattered all across Haruka’s shirt. This caused the black-haired to take action and he grabbed Rin by the wrist and pulled him upstairs. He then pushed Rin to his room and ran into his own to grab his own water-gun. Now they would just need some kind of ammo.

The two met back up outside their rooms and ran downstairs to the kitchen. Both started looking around for anything they could use. Nagisa had, of course, already taken all the tomato sauce they had, so that was out of the picture.

“Hey Haru!” Rin called from the fridge. “Will this do?”

Haruka turned to look at Rin and noticed the soy sauce in his hand. He nodded. There was plenty of it. The bottle Rin held was full of it, and Haruka knew there was another one somewhere. If he could find it and keep it on him, they would be good for a while.

“That’s good,” he said before he allowed Rin to charge both their water-guns with the soy sauce and he went to look for the second bottle. He found it quickly and they ran out to meet Nagisa and Rei and with that, the battle began.

Rei and Nagisa shot tomato sauce and Rin and Haruka shot soy sauce. The point was to hit their opponents as much as possible, and the opponent hat to dodge and make sure he didn’t get hit. This went well, so well that the walls were soon painted black and red with the different types of sauce.

* * *

 

What Makoto came home to late that afternoon was not what he had expected. He didn’t know exactly what he had expected, but a warzone wasn’t it, that much he knew.

Once he entered his house, before he got to announce that he was home, he saw Rin backing towards him at a rather fast speed. Nagisa emerged from the living room in the same time with a water-gun in hand. He was doing his best to aim at Rin and therefore didn’t notice Makoto. Also Rin was too focused on Nagisa to take note of Makoto’s presence behind him.

Makoto allowed himself to take a quick look at what he could see of the house. He quickly noticed how black and red spots were covering the walls around him. There was already a black splatter on the door behind him. He wondered if the rest of the house looked the same as this.

“I’ve got you know!” Nagisa yelled.

“That’s what you think!” Rin shot back at him.

Rei and Haruka immerged from the kitchen and both took a look at the situation and noticed Makoto at the end of the hallway. As Nagisa was about to pull the trigger, a horrified look appeared on both their faces.

“Nagisa, stop!” Rei yelled.

“Rin!” Haruka yelled, trying to claim Rin’s attention, but it didn’t work.

Nagisa shot and Rin dodged, and the tomato sauce shot right over his head and hit Makoto on the chest, splattering the sauce all over his jacket. He looked at the spot for a bit before he looked up to meet both Rin’s and Nagisa’s shocked eyes. It was obvious that this wasn’t what they had intended.

“Ma-Mako-chan… I…” Nagisa was at a loss of what to say. He couldn’t even seem to voice an apology and no one else knew how to help him.

“I…” Makoto didn’t know what to say either, but he figured he could start by voicing his feelings. “I’m very disappointed in you,” he said. “I know you haven’t been getting along too well from the beginning, and I understand that you need time to adjust to one another, but this has taken too long. By now you should’ve adjusted to one another. And no matter what, you shouldn’t be fighting like this,” he said, while pretending to be as strict as possible.

“We’re sorry,” Rin muttered. “It was Nagisa and Rei who started it,” he said.

“It was only Nagisa, but Rin and Haruka reacted,” Rei said, in Nagisa’s defense.

“You’re so mean, Rei-chan!” Nagisa yelled.

“Regardless of who is responsible for this incident, you are all evenly responsible for not being able to get along and stopping this,” Makoto said. “Therefore, I’m going to punish all of you. Go to the bathroom and learn to make up. I will lock the door and not open it until you are able to get along. I will clean up in the meantime. Hopefully you will make up in time to join me,” he smiled at them. He really couldn’t help it. He wasn’t angry with them, just disappointed. He wanted to make this clear at least.

All four children obediently went to the bathroom and Makoto followed to lock the door. He hated the fact that he had to do this, but he needed to make them get along now. This had gone on long enough and this fight was terrible.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was actually what triggered this story, This was the very first idea of something that could have happened when Makoto and the others were still living in Iwatobi. The story that this chapter and the following one tells was the "key idea" so of course you won't get the end of this conflict until I come home from my trip. You can use the time to imagine what'll happen.   
> Well, as always, thanks for reading.
> 
> Jackie


	22. Bathroom

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who's back? Guess you figured from the update.   
> So it's Thursday night and I had way more energy than I expected, so here's an update on the story. I hope you like it. I will continue publishing daily from now on and do my job properly.   
> I admit, I'll be surprised if you're still reading this after a 4 days long break. If you're still reading, I'm so grateful. It's nice that someone wants to read my work. 
> 
> Jackie

Haruka was first to enter the bathroom. Rin followed and then Nagisa came, pushed forward by Rei. Makoto closed the door behind them and they could all hear the lock click as he locked the door before heading downstairs to get started on cleaning up their mess.

“So… we are to make friends,” Rei said, stating the task at hand. It seemed impossible.

“Not happening!” Nagisa and Rin yelled.

Haruka turned his back to the lot of them and turned on the cold water in the tub. He watched as it was slowly filled while pretending not to pay the others any mind.

“Now’s not the time for that, Haru!” Rin yelled as he heard the water running.

Haruka ignored him. By now the tub was already half full and he started taking off his clothes to reveal the fact that he was wearing his swimsuit underneath.

Rin sighed and placed a hand on his forehead. “I can’t believe you,” he said.

“Does he do that all the time?” Rei asked.

“Whenever there is a chance he can get into the water, yes,” Rin said.

“There’s not one today,” Nagisa stated.

“I can sense the water calling,” Haruka said. He was already sitting in the tub and now allowed his head to disappear under the surface.

“How does that work?” Rei asked.

Haruka’s head peaked up above the surface long enough for him to shake it, signaling that he had no clue of how. He had given his best answer.

“Was he always this weird?” Nagisa asked.

Rin shrugged. “Pretty much. He has always had a strong attraction to water. That’s part reason why we started swimming,”

“When did you start that anyways?” Nagisa asked.

Rin thought. “We started swimming when we had our first swimming lessons at school. We both became the fastest swimmers within no time and our teacher recommended that we joined a swim club. I think it was around the middle of first grade if I’d have to take a wild guess,” Rin finalized.

“When did you start, Nagisa,” Haruka’s head was now above the surface of the water again.

“When I was around 5. I met Mako-chan on the first day,” Nagisa answered.

“That’s where you met Makoto?” Rin asked, slightly surprised.

“Yes, he was my coach the first half a year,” Nagisa answered. “He wondered about why Rei-chan was always the one who picked me up after swimming and then invited us home for dinner,” he smiled as he spoke and Rei nodded.

“But don’t forget, we actually ran into him before you started swimming, on the same morning on the bus,” he said.

“Did we?” Nagisa turned to Rei.

Rei nodded. “We were heading to a dentist appointment with a few others from the orphanage and the bus was packed so I pulled you closer to leave a seat free. Makoto took it,”

“I was sleeping!” Nagisa remembered and then turned to Rin and Haruka. “Rin-chan, Haru-chan, isn’t Rei-chan mean for waking me up while I was sleeping?” he asked.

Rin nearly chuckled and Haruka just sent Nagisa an irritated look before he spoke.

“Don’t add –chan to my name,” he said

Nagisa stared at Haruka and then at Rin with round eyes. He hadn’t even realized that he’d done that, but then he smiled. He realized that the hateful feelings he had felt towards these two had been an act for a while by now and he had started to see them as friends. He had also added the suffix to their names in his mind often.

“Isn’t Haru-chan your name?” he asked.

Rin laughed. Also he had realized the war was stupid by now and if Nagisa was willing to accept him and Haruka, then he could accept Rei and Nagisa as well.

“Yeah, Haru-chan’s your name,” he said while smirking at Haruka, who sent him a glare from the bathtub.

“Shut up, Rin-Rin,” Haruka said, coldly.

“Don’t call me that!” Rin yelled. “I’ve been called that enough!”

“You took it to heart,” Haruka reminded him.

“It’s because of you they started with the Rin-Rin and Haru-chan!” Rin yelled. “You and your girly name!”

“It was because of you,” Haruka shot back.

“Hey, hey!” Nagisa yelled, interrupting them. “You have girly names too! So does me and Rei-chan!”

“Nagisa… I don’t think that’s such a good thing to mention at the moment,” Rei said in an attempt to stop Nagisa from talking any more about boys with girly names.

“What? Can’t we just say they’re Rin-chan and Haru-chan, you’re Rei-chan and Mako-chan is Mako-chan?” Nagisa asked.

Rei sighed. “I apologize on Nagisa’s behalf. He doesn’t mean to insult anyone… he’s just… He has gotten way too used to using –chan,” he explained.

Rin sighed. “Guess it can’t be helped… right, Haru?” he asked.

Haruka didn’t react this time. His head was under the surface but he could somewhat hear what was said. Rin interpreted the lack of reaction.

“Haru thinks it’s fine too,” he said.

All four fell silent for a bit before Nagisa took a look at himself in the mirror. His hair had been died a strange color due to the soy sauce that had hit him. Also his clothes had dark spots on them. Especially Haruka had been really good at hitting his target and both Rin and Haruka had shot more at him than Rei because they knew Rei was in it a bit more unwillingly.

Realizing how disgusting he was, Nagisa took off his clothes and allowed himself to slip into the tub with Haruka. This caused Haruka’s head to break the surface and he sent Nagisa another irritated look.

“I never said you could join me,” he stated.

“You never said I couldn’t either, Haru-chan,” Nagisa said before wrapping an arm around Haruka’s shoulders with a happy smile on his face. “Rin-chan and Rei-chan should join us too. There’s room enough for everyone!”

“Haru’s bathing habits are too cold for me,” Rin proclaimed.

“It’s too stuffy,” Rei said but he stepped closer anyways, and Nagisa grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him into the water. Rei grabbed Rin’s shirt in the same time and both landed in the tub with a splash, causing water to flow over the sides of the tub and down on the floor.

“What was that for?!” Rin yelled.

“Isn’t it fun?” Nagisa asked.

“It’s stuffy,” Rei declared.

“The tub’s half empty,” Haruka stated.

“No, it’s half full! Haru-chan you’re such a negative thinker!” Nagisa declared before he went to fill hot water into the tub, to Haruka’s dismay.

Surprisingly enough, everyone agreed when Nagisa suggested that they washed each other since none of them had gotten off without getting hit at least once with either soy sauce or tomato sauce, so that was what they did.

* * *

 

Makoto twisted the cloth over the bucket with hot water. He was finally done with washing the walls in the entrée. He still had to clean the rest of the rooms before he was done. He hoped the others had made friends soon as he could have them help him out with this mess.

Curiously, he took a listen, but he could hear nothing from upstairs. He had heard the sound of voices earlier, Rin’s shouting, Nagisa’s excited voice and Rei’s more soft speaking. He couldn’t hear Haruka’s voice, but that was to be expected. However, now it was all silent and this caused Makoto to get slightly worried. Why weren’t they talking? Had they gone that angry at each other? Wait, that wasn’t like them, especially not Rin. He had heard him fight enough to know that he would just increase the sound level of the conversation for each sentence.

Therefore, Makoto dropped the cloth into the bucket and headed upstairs. He listened at the door to the bathroom, but he still couldn’t hear anything. They’d been in there for an hour by now. What could’ve happened?

Makoto put the key in the keyhole and unlocked the door carefully. He opened it evenly carefully in fear that someone might jump at him if he didn’t. But no one did that, and Makoto soon learned why.

On the floor, with their backs against the now empty bathtub and towels wrapped around them, Rin, Rei, Haruka and Nagisa were all sitting. Nagisa’s head was resting on Haruka’s shoulder, just like Rin’s head was resting on Rei’s. Rei had an arm wrapped around both Rin and Haruka and Nagisa also had both his arms wrapped around Haruka. All four boys were sound asleep, all with soft expressions on their faces.

Makoto stood and watched them for a bit, wondering if he should wake them up. He decided to wait a bit. He wanted to remember this situation, and therefore he went and grabbed his camera before he took a photo of the four boys. Only then he went to wake them up.


	23. Swim

“Rin-chan! Haru-chan! Over here!” Nagisa yelled once Rin and Haruka entered the swimming club. They were at the pools and Nagisa had been there for a while by now. He was standing by the poolside with Mikio by his side.

“Hey!” Rin approached the two younger boys with Haruka behind him.

“Miki-chan and I really wanted to watch you race,” Nagisa said.

“I also want to race against you!” Mikio declared

Rin laughed. “You sure you’re even good enough?” he asked. “Haru and I are going to participate in the next tournament after spring break.”

Both Nagisa’s and Mikio’s eyes widened with admiration. Because they were a year younger, there was no talk of them participating in tournaments yet. It weren’t even said for sure that you would participate in tournaments once you started fourth grade unless you were good enough. Rin and Haruka were both good enough though.

“We’ll race them anyways, right, Nagisa?” Mikio asked.

“I only swim free,” Haruka answered before he turned away from the other three and headed towards the pool. He jumped in and started swimming in that way that seemed to come as naturally to him as breathing.

Nagisa and Mikio stared at him with wide eyes and admiring expressions while Rin just stood with his hands in his sides and a confident smile.

* * *

 

The day of the tournament was two weeks after the spring break and it was open for public, thankfully. Nagisa had already told Makoto and Rei all about it before Rin and Haruka had the slightest chance, and he had begged for permission to go watch it.

“We’ll all go,” Makoto had said while smiling at Nagisa. Then he had looked up at Rin and Haruka who were standing a little further away. “Unless you don’t want us to come?” he asked.

“Go ahead!” Rin had answered with all his confidence displayed on his face Haruka hadn’t said a word. He didn’t care either way.

So now, Makoto, Rei and Nagisa were standing among the other spectators, consisting of friends and families of the kids swimming down in the pools below.

“Mako-chan is this a swimming stadium?” Nagisa asked while he was looking around, taking in all his surroundings with those round, magenta eyes of his.

“A small one,” Makoto answered. “Those for school tournaments are way bigger, at least those I went to when I was in middle school and high school were,”

“I want to swim at a big stadium!” Nagisa then declared.

“If you become a member of the swim club at your middle school, you might,” Makoto answered.

“I don’t get why you would want to swim in the first place,” Rei said while looking down at the pool.

“Just watch Haru-chan swim and you’ll understand!” Nagisa exclaimed.

“I can’t swim regardless,” Rei answered.

“Mako-chan can teach you!” Nagisa responded evenly cheerfully.

“I have no intention of learning. I’ve said it before,” Rei answered, irritated.

Makoto laughed. “You almost sound like Rin and Haru,” he said.

“The male’s 100 m freestyle will now begin,” a mechanical voice announced, causing all conversation between Makoto, Rei and Nagisa to die down.

The freestyle was where both Rin and Haruka would participate. They would be racing against one another. Sadly they had no more events they were participating in at this tournament.

The swimmers lined up by the poolside and each stood by their respective starting block. Haruka and Rin were standing next to each other. Rin was in the 5th lane, Haruka in the 6th.

“How good are they?” Makoto asked Nagisa out of curiosity. Unlike the young, blonde boy, he had never seen Rin and Haruka swim except that one time when they’d been trespassing and swam in a pool belonging to a private high school, and then Makoto had had other things on his mind so he hadn’t been paying attention.

“They’re fast. They say Rin-chan’s kick is strong, but Haru-chan’s faster,” Nagisa explained. “Haru-chan looks like a dolphin when he swims!” he continued.

Makoto fought back a giggle. A few of his teammates from high school had associated him with a killer whale when he was swimming the backstroke.

“Take your marks!” a man called. “Ready.” And then the signal for the swimmers to jump was heard.

Rin and Haruka jumped in the water at the same time and hit the surface almost at the same time. Rin was a little further ahead but they began their stroke in the same time as well. Everyone else was swimming too, but as the race progressed, the gap between Rin and Haruka and the others grew wider. It was clear who would be tying for first place. Either Rin or Haruka would make it first, no one else could do it.

Makoto was breath taken. He could only watch while minor thoughts were running through his head. He mostly thought about how amazing Rin and Haruka were when swimming. They were both amazing in the water, and super fast. He didn’t think he’d even been half as fast when he was their age.

Rin reached the end first, 0.5 seconds before Haruka did. He was marked the winner and Haruka came in second place. Since the first tournament after spring break, at least the individual ones, were based of your age, there was no finally after this event. There weren’t many fourth graders who were allowed to swim at the very first tournament.

“Haruka might be a fast swimmer, but it seems that Rin won,” Rei said. “His kick might just be that much stronger that Haruka can’t surpass him.” He stared down at Rin and Haruka who both climbed out of the pool in the same time, and headed back to change.

“That’s not true, Rei-chan,” Nagisa said. “Yesterday they were racing several 100 m races and had me time them. They wanted to see who would win the more and thereby Rin-chan declared that he’d know who would win today. After 20 rounds it was 10 wins and 10 losses to both,” Nagisa explained. “They were exhausted after that, so the coach had them stop for that day.”

Makoto smiled at this. It didn’t sound unlike Rin and Haruka to do something like this. Especially not Rin. Makoto might not have known the two for more than eight months by now, but he had noticed that Rin really seemed to hate losing to Haruka, especially at things they were evenly good at.

* * *

 

Makoto could see this happiness of not losing on Rin’s face once they met up after the end of the tournament. Rin was beaming with happiness while Haruka looked indifferent, although, he was doing his best not to look at Rin.

“That was a good race,” Makoto said.

“Wasn’t it?!” Rin smiled. “And I beat Haru!” he kept on smiling.

“We saw it,” Makoto answered.

“Your stroke was really beautiful, Haruka,” Rei said.

“Thank you,” Haruka muttered, although he didn’t really understand what Rei meant by what he said.

“Anyways,” Makoto said. “Since it’s your birthday tomorrow, I decided that the winner of today’s race picks what we’ll have for dinner today and the loser picks what we’ll have tomorrow, how does that sound?” he asked.

“Haru can pick for today and I’ll pick for tomorrow,” Rin declared. “I say something with lots of meat.”

“Okay,” Makoto smiled. “We’ll need to figure out what though.” He looked to Haruka. “What’s for tonight then?” he asked.

“Mackerel,” Haruka answered.

“Why mackerel?” Makoto asked.

“It’s the only fish I haven’t tasted yet,” Haruka answered.

“Okay, let’s have mackerel then,” Makoto said.

“When’ll I get to pick what we’ll have for dinner?” Nagisa asked in a whiny tone.

“When you win a race,” Rin said.

“No fair!” Nagisa exclaimed

Makoto smiled. “Okay, Nagisa picks for the day after tomorrow then,” he said.

“Yay! Then I want cream and chocolate and strawberry marmalade and jam and…” Nagisa continued to line up all the sweet stuff he liked until Rei interrupted him.

“I’m starting to feel sick, can we please eat something healthy?” he asked.

“Then curry!” Nagisa decided.

Makoto laughed. “Curry it is then,” he answered. “Now, let’s go buy some mackerel,” he said before he started walking towards the nearest shop where you could buy fish. The four boys followed him quickly.

They had mackerel that night and Haruka took an instant liking to it. It didn’t go by unnoticed how Nagisa attempted to smuggle half his fish onto Haruka’s plate and how it went missing shortly after.

Haruka may have lost a race that day, but he gained a favorite dish instead.


	24. Trip

Summer break had just started. It was in the evening and Makoto was in the middle of preparing dinner when the phone started ringing. Rei put down his pen and went to answer it.

“The Tachibana family, Ryugazaki Rei speaking,” he said as he answered the phone. When Makoto was busy doing something else or wasn’t at home, it was usually Rei who picked up the phone. The reason why this was, was unknown.

“Ah, Rei!” it was Makoto’s mother who was calling. “Can you get Makoto for me?” she asked.

“He’s in the middle of cooking. Is there a message I can give him?” Rei asked in that way that made him sound way older than 12 years old.

“No, just tell him to call back when he has time. There is something I want to discuss with him,” Makoto’s mother answered.

“I’ll tell him that,” Rei answered. “See you, grandma,” he said.

“Goodbye Rei,” Makoto’s mother said before they both hung up.

“Who was it?” Makoto asked, not having heard what Rei was talking about.

“Grandma, she said that you should call back when you have time,” Rei answered.

“Will do,” Makoto said as the rice finished boiling. Dinner would be ready soon, and so Makoto asked Rei to come help him lay the table before they could eat.

* * *

 

After dinner, and after they’d washed up, Makoto went over to the phone to call his mother back. He was curious as to what she had wanted. Normally when she couldn’t get in contact with Makoto, she would ask Rei to take a message, but this seemed to be something she actually needed to talk about, but why couldn’t she just have told Rei to topic like she normally did? These questions filled Makoto’s mind as he dialed the number to his parents’ house.

“The Tachibana family,” his mother answered almost immediately.

“It’s Makoto. You said I should call back?” Makoto said in a questioning manner.

“Yes, I’ve got news. Remember that your dad and I entered a contest to win 1000000 yen?” she asked.

“Did you win?” Makoto asked, surprised.

“No,” his mother said. “Not the 1000000 anyways. We won the second largest amount 750000 yen,” she answered.

Makoto was both surprised and happy. “That’s incredible! Congratulations!” he said. “But why are you telling me this now?” he asked.

“We decided that we don’t need the money, so we would spend them on our children,” his mother said. “So we agreed to invite Ren, Ran, you and your family on a trip to Okinawa for two weeks during this summer break,” she said. “And we are buying a camera for you, Ren and Ran, one for each,” she said.

“Why the camera?” Makoto asked.

His mother laughed. “As you can take pictures in Okinawa of course,” she answered. “We agreed that we’re leaving this upcoming Saturday,” she said.

“Do I have a say in the matter?” Makoto asked, worriedly.

“Not unless you absolutely can’t leave, but then we’ll just bring the other four along,” his mother said cheerfully, knowing that Makoto wouldn’t deny coming along if she put it like this.

“Okay. Where do we meet?” he asked.

“We meet at Iwatobi Station on Saturday morning at 8,” his mother said. “We’re going to Tottori-shi by train and taking an airplane from there to Naha in Okinawa,” she said.

“How much does it cost?” Makoto asked.

His mother laughed again. “Nothing in your case. We’re paying all tickets, rooms at the hotel, and all food. All you need to pay is whatever these categories do not cover.”

“There’s nothing that doesn’t cover as far as I can think,” Makoto answered. “Drinks too?”

“Yes,” his mother said.

“Thank you,” Makoto said, not knowing any better words to express his feelings. He was both happy that his parents would do this for him, his siblings and his children, but he also felt like they should be spending their money on themselves instead. But his parents had always found great joy in their children, and their grandchildren too. Maybe it would make them happier to use their money on making their family happy than using them for themselves.

“You’re very welcome, we’ll see you at the station on Saturday morning,” Makoto’s mother said before they both said goodbye and hung up.

“What was it about?” Rei asked.

Makoto turned to see that all his children were looking at him. Rei’s book was resting in his lap and Nagisa and Haruka, who had both been drawing, had laid down their pencils to look at him.

“My parents won a prize of 750000 yen,” Makoto answered. “They decided to spent the money on a trip to Okinawa for the entire family. We’re leaving on Saturday morning. We have to be at Iwatobi station at 8,” he explained to them all.

“I’ve never been to Okinawa before!” Nagisa exclaimed. “Have you?” he looked to the others with curious eyes.

“Not that I can remember,” Rei said.

“The orphanage never arranged trips for that far away,” Rin said.

“They never arrange any trips,” Haruka said.

“They did arrange that hiking trip!” Rin yelled.

“That was with the school,” Haruka answered.

“They still arranged it,” Rin defined.

“Stop that,” Makoto said. “The point is that you’ve never been to Okinawa either, right?” he smiled kindly at both Rin and Haruka, knowing that he had managed to stop the argument this time. “I haven’t been there either,” he said.

“Where have you been to then, Mako-chan?” Nagisa asked.

Makoto thought. “For our field-trip in 9th grade we went to Tokyo, aside from that I’ve only been to Kyoto once after I’d graduated from high school.”

All eyes widened. None of the four children had ever been outside town, not as far as they could remember anyways. To go to places like Kyoto was incredible in their eyes, and to go to Tokyo seemed more like a distant dream to them.

“It’s not that big a deal!” Makoto said, surprised by all the eyes on him. He wasn’t used to it at all. In his opinion, these were only small trips. Some of his classmates had been to Tokyo before the field-trip and one of them had been to Kyoto twice by that time too, and seen even more of Japan. One of his classmates had even been to Australia on vacation once.

“I wanna go to Tokyo too!” Nagisa exclaimed. “I want to see all Japan, no! All the world!” he yelled excitedly.

“It’s not that easy to just go there,” Makoto said. “In fact, a trip isn’t cheap at all. You need a place to stay and a way to get there. You will need money for food and entrance for whatever you want to see,” he said. “If you go abroad, it’s even more expensive.”

Nagisa pouted.

“Anyways, I want you to be done packing by Friday night, as we don’t have to think about that when we’re leaving on Saturday morning,” Makoto said, changing the subject back to the trip they were going on.

“Okay!” Nagisa exclaimed, cheerfully. Remembering that he was about to go to Okinawa with his family seemed to be enough to wipe the pouting off his face.

* * *

 

“Onii-chan! Over here!” It was Ran calling, She, Ren and Makoto’s parents were already waiting as Makoto and his family reached the station. Everyone was smiling as Makoto and his family reached them.

“Are we all here?” Makoto’s father asked while looking around.

“I brought everyone,” Makoto said. Rin and Haruka were standing on either side of him and Rei and Nagisa were behind him. He could sense their presence easily.

“We’re here too,” Ran said while wrapping an arm around Ren’s shoulders. “Even Ren’s here on time,” she smiled.

“You’re mean,” Ren commented.

“The train’s coming,” Makoto’s mother said as she noticed the train approaching in the distance. “Are we all ready to go?” she asked.

“Yeah!” Nagisa exclaimed, causing all smiles to grow wider.

The train stopped by the station and then everyone boarded. Excited conversations broke out as they sat on their seats and the train departed from the station. All were looking forward to this trip.


	25. Hotel

The trip went surprisingly peacefully. Nagisa was, of course, constantly talking and constantly demanding entertainment, but that was normal. He managed to convince Ran, Rin and Haruka to play some cards with him while they were riding the train. Makoto didn’t know what they were playing, he was talking to Ren, but from the loud complains from Rin, Ran and Nagisa, it sounded like Haruka won.

On the way to the flight, Rin and Haruka ended up arguing twice, first about if Haruka had cheated in the game or not, and afterwards about if pineapple belonged on pizza or not. They had stopped to buy some pizza for lunch while waiting for their flight.

But aside from these events, nothing really interesting happened and before they knew it, they were finally at Naha in Okinawa.

“Where’s the hotel?” Ran asked once they exited the airport.

Makoto’s father sighed. “It should be by the shore. There’s a beach within walking distance.”

“How far is that?” Nagisa asked, curiously.

“About a kilometer,” Rin answered.

“It’s only 500 meters,” Haruka said.

“That’s too short!” Rin exclaimed.

“One kilometer is too long,” Haruka answered.

“You just hope it’s only 500 meters!” Rin yelled. “Keep your water-addiction in check!”

“It’s in check,” Haruka answered.

“I see a pool over there!” Rin yelled while pointing in a random direction.

Haruka didn’t even bother to look. “You just say that hoping to get a reaction,” he pointed out.

Rin got angry with the fact that he’d been figured out. “No I don’t!” he yelled, trying to cover up the obvious truth.

“Stop lying,” Haruka answered.

“Start listening!” Rin yelled.

“I would if you were honest!” Haruka was now raising his voice as well.

Makoto looked uncomfortably around, noticing how people around them were stopping to stare at the two arguing boys. He had to stop them before it got any worse.

“Haru’s feelings towards water aside, there is no clear amount of what a walking distance is. It’s just a distance you can walk without it taking too long. It can be both 500 meters and 1 kilometer. It can even be two kilometers in some cases. We’ll see exactly how far it is when we get there,” he smiled like he always did when trying to make peace between the two.

Rin and Haruka both nodded. It was obviously hard for them to accept that not only one of them were right and how the argument had escalated didn’t help any on their mood.

“It’s this way,” Makoto’s father said then as he started leading the family in the direction they were supposed to go.

* * *

 

The beach really was within walking distance of where they would stay. They could see the ocean once they stepped out on the street. It was blue with glittering reflections of the sunlight in it. The spark in Haruka’s eyes once he saw the clear blue water didn’t go beyond Makoto’s attention.

“This is our base,” Makoto’s mother said. “We won’t just stay here. We will also go and see something on the rest of the island, whatever we have time for.”

“But we will get time to go to the beach, right?” Ran asked.

“Of course,” Makoto’s father answered as they went inside to check in.

Three rooms had been booked, one with room for two, one with room for three and one with room for four people.

“How do we split this?” Makoto asked as they had looked at all three rooms. The room for three had three single beds and the other two rooms had double beds.

“We just said we would be nine people,” Makoto’s mother said, a little unsure of how to respond to Makoto’s question.

“Mom and dad can take the two-persons room,” Ren said.

“I want to share with Rei-chan, Rin-chan and Haru-chan!” Nagisa exclaimed while wrapping around Haruka’s and Rin’s shoulders.

“So you take the four-persons room and Ren and I take the three-persons room with Nii-chan,” Ran said, smiling happily.

Makoto looked unsure. “Is that really okay?” he asked while eying his children, concerned.

“Rei-chan’s 12, he can take care of us!” Nagisa said, confidently. The boy in question looked less than half as confident.

“And the three of us will be right next door,” Ren said.

“You took care of us when you were 12 and we were half Nagisa’s age at the time,” Ran added.

Makoto sighed, finally agreeing to the arrangements and everyone seemed relatively happy with it as it had turned out. They then went to pack out.

They ate out, all together, at a nearby restaurant that specialized in seafood. Everyone ate as much as they liked and they sat and talked for a while, before they headed back, not doing anything else for the day.

* * *

 

Nagisa was tired once they reached the hotel and Rei declared that he should go to bed once they reached their room. Nagisa agreed, but he wanted them to decide where they’d sleep first.

“Haru and I take this bed and you take the other,” Rin said while pointing to one of the beds in the room.

“But I wanna share with Haru-chan!” Nagisa whined.

Rin and Rei eyed one another. Neither of them seemed to be happy with that arrangement. Although they had learned to get along, both Rin and Rei still found it a bit difficult and they didn’t feel as close with one another as they did with the rest.

“Let’s pick by random then,” Rei said, slightly hesitantly.

“How?” Rin asked.

“Amida!” Nagisa exclaimed. “I brought paper!” Without anyone having time to object to the idea, Nagisa went to get paper, pencil and crayons. He then had Haruka do the hard work with the reason that he was the better at drawing. Rin did remark that you didn’t really need drawing skills to do Amida, but Nagisa decided not to listen and Haruka didn’t mind doing it anyways.

Nagisa ended up having it his way, so he shared a bed with Haruka while Rin and Rei, demonstratively, had to share a bed as well.

Makoto was surprised by who was sharing a bed with who when he came in to see if everything was okay, about an hour later. He looked to all four boys and smiled as he saw that they were all sound asleep. They’d been traveling almost all day so it was understandable that they’d be exhausted.

“Goodnight,” Makoto said softly as he left the room again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What was interesting to do in this chapter was to write the discussion between Rin and Haru. I wasn't sure if there was a definition of a walking distance. I admit I was a little disappointed. However, it just makes the discussion more hilarious, like I'd sometimes discuss which week a certain break would be in. The reason why we'd discuss it because the break was in a different week depending on where you live in the country.   
> Enough about that. I'm still grateful for you all reading this story. Thanks. 
> 
> Jackie


	26. Stargazing

Everyone was exhausted. They had been in Okinawa for a week now and had spent every day on going to different places on the island. Today they’d just been out of town to explore the nature around. After walking for hours, they had found a lake with clear water and stayed there to eat the lunches they’d brought along.

After eating, some had gone for a swim in the lake, but because most hadn’t brought their swimsuits, it wasn’t everyone who went. Ran and Makoto’s mother skipped. Nagisa, who wasn’t shy at all, took off all his clothes and went into the lake butt naked. Rin had seen it coming when he saw Haruka pull on his swimsuit that morning, and Makoto had just had a feeling that Haruka was wearing his swimsuit and for a reason, so he had run up to pack his own just before they left.

Regardless of if they’d been able to bathe in the lake or not, everyone had had a fun time, but after the long walk back to the hotel, they were very tired. They had hurriedly bought whatever food they could find the quickest and then gone to bed, all but one.

Rin was sitting by the window in the hotel room and staring up at the dark blue sky above. He knew not many boys did it, especially not many boys his age, and certainly not alone either, but he liked watching the stars. He had seen them come out as he had walked through town with the others in search for some food. He had noticed how clear they were tonight.

Rin didn’t know for how long he had been gazing up at the stars when he heard movement from within the room and turned his head. He couldn’t see anyone at first. The stars outside were too bright, but then his eyes adjusted to the darkness in the room and he saw who it was.

“What are you doing?” Haruka asked.

Rin smiled. “Gazing at the stars. They’re really bright tonight,” he said.

Haruka got up, thinking about how silly this was. But he knew that Rin would have him come over to look soon, so why wait for him to ask when you knew you won’t be given a choice in the matter?

“What’s going on, Haru-chan?” Nagisa asked, waking up due to slight movements the bed made from Haruka getting up.

“It’s the stars,” Rin answered in Haruka’s place. “They’re bright tonight, come look!” he encouraged happily. He clearly wanted to share his joy with this with as many as possible.

Haruka now reached Rin and sat down to look out the window with him. Nagisa went across the room to where Rei was lying and started shaking him awake.

“Rei-chan! Rei-chan!” Nagisa called while shaking the older boy.

“Wha- Nagisa it’s the middle of the night…” Rei muttered, still half asleep.

“Rin-chan says the stars are really bright, come see!” Nagisa exclaimed while pulling Rei’s arm to get him out of bed and over to the window.

Rei groaned a bit, but did as told and allowed Nagisa to pull him to the window. His eyes widened as he saw the sight and a fascinated look appeared on his face.

“Beautiful…” he said, almost in a whisper.

“That’s what I told you!” Rin turned to look at everyone with a wide smile on his face.

Rei then seemed to think of something. “The view isn’t very good here though,” he said. “We should find somewhere where we can see them better,” he said.

Rin looked surprised, then he nodded.

“Where would that be?” Nagisa asked, looking between all three older boys.

Rin gave it some thought, then a wide grin appeared on his face. “I’ve got it!” he said. “Follow me!” He grabbed Haruka by the wrist to ensure he did that, and then lead the way out of the room. Rei and Nagisa were right behind them.

They didn’t make it far before another door opened and Makoto looked out and noticed them.

“I thought I heard your voices,” he said. “Is something the matter?” he asked.

“We’re gonna go get a better view at the stars!” Rin said happily.

Makoto looked a bit surprised. “The stars?” he asked.

“They’re really bright tonight,” Rei explained. “It’s so beautiful so we wanted a better view than what we can get from the window.”

“But why look at the stars like this. Shouldn’t you be sleeping?” Makoto wondered.

“Rin’s a romantic,” Haruka answered.

“Do you have a problem with that?” Rin asked.

“It’s annoying,” Haruka answered.

Rin took in a deep breath and was about to yell something when Makoto stepped out with a worried look on his face and with his hands out.

“Please don’t fight now, there are others who are sleeping,” he said in a loud whisper. He then turned around to close the door to his room and then looked at them. “I’ll come with you,” he said.

Rin smiled and then turned back to lead the way, still holding Haruka’s wrist tight as he couldn’t get away.

They walked out of the hotel and down the street towards the dark blue sea at the end. Rin stopped once they stood on the beach and looked over the ocean and the starry sky that met at the horizon. He turned to smile at the others behind him.

“Isn’t this a good spot?” he asked.

“It’s even more beautiful out here,” Rei said, smiling.

Nagisa plopped down in the sand, deciding that it was better to sit and watch the stars than stand up. The others went and sat around him and Rei started pointing out the constellations. Everyone looked to where he pointed at the sky and saw them as well.

For a couple of hours, they just sat there and looked up at the starry sky while enjoying the company of one another. None of them had ever felt more like a family than they did in that moment, in the middle of the night.

But after a while, Nagisa started yawning and rubbing at his eyes.

“I’m tired now,” he said. “I’m going back to bed.”

“We should all go back to bed,” Makoto said softly.

Rei nodded in agreement and he stood up. Nagisa stood up beside him and also Makoto and Haruka got on their feet.

“Are you coming, Rin?” Makoto asked, turning to look at Rin who was still sitting on the sand.

“I want to stay here for a bit longer,” Rin answered.

Makoto nodded. “Don’t stay too long though,” he said.

“I won’t,” Rin promised and then Makoto just wished him a good night before he headed back with the other three children. Rin forgot to keep his promise and stayed on the beach until sunrise. Only then he remembered how tired he was and also went back to the hotel and back to bed.


	27. Beach

Ren, Ran and Makoto’s parents all found it strange that Makoto and his children all seemed very tired, even considering they hadn’t been relaxing much on the first week. It only took a few exchanges of looks and words for Makoto’s parents to decide that they would stay at the hotel today and just go to the beach.

“Then we have more time to use our cameras too!” Ran said, happily.

“I’ve got plenty of photos,” Ren said.

“When’d you take them? I couldn’t catch the right moments at all!” Ran exclaimed in a slightly whiny tone.

“And you say I’m always late for everything?” Ren asked in wonder.

For a change, no one butted in on their conversation. Usually, when the entire family was together, one member of Makoto’s family would throw in a comment at some point.

“When did you return to the room?” Haruka asked Rin who was slouching over his breakfast, eyes half-closed and the plate only half empty.

“About sunrise,” Rin answered in a tired mutter.

“Stupid,” Haruka mumbled under his breath. Rin was too tired to even think up something to shoot back. The worst part was the fact that he might actually agree with what Haruka said. It hadn’t been the smartest idea of his to stay out until morning.

* * *

 

After breakfast, everyone went to get their swimsuits on and pull something over before they headed to the beach. Makoto’s parents brought a blanket and a parasol and towels had been brought for everyone too.

“I wanna go in the water!” Nagisa exclaimed before they’d even had the time to put up the blanket and parasol.

“Wait a bit, Nagisa,” Makoto said. “We need to put this up first and I want to be sure nothing happens.”

Nagisa pouted, but stayed put until the blanket was out and Ren and Makoto’s father were working on putting up the parasol.

“So, can I go now?” Nagisa asked.

Makoto nodded. “But be careful. Don’t go further out than where you can reach the bottom. I’d actually say that the water surface has to reach around your hips,” he said.

“That’s not deep!” Nagisa complained. “The water in the pool at the SC reaches around my shoulders!”

Makoto sighed. “The ocean is different than the SC,” he then thought. “Okay, when someone who can swim is with you in the water then maybe around here.” he held his hand where his own chest began and then put it at the same point on Nagisa’s body to show what he meant. “But no further, and if no one who can swim is out there, then you have to be where the water reaches your hips, okay?” he asked.

“So can I go out with Rei-chan?” Nagisa asked.

“I can’t swim,” Rei stated

“Same rule applies to the rest of you, of course the levels respond to where the water-level reaches on your own body,” Makoto explained, looking at everyone. “Haru, watch for it,” he said, knowing that Haruka would forget to pay attention to how far he was out.

“Let’s go!” Nagisa yelled as he grabbed Rei around the wrist and dragged him to the water. Rin and Haruka exchanged looks before following. Ren and Ran also followed shortly after and a water-fight got started.

Makoto watched with his parents from the blanket under the parasol, happy to see that they all seemed to be having a good time. However, it didn’t take long before Nagisa came running out of the water and towards Makoto to drag him into the water with them and he took part in the fight.

After some time, Ren got a little bored and decided to go back. Ran followed shortly after with Makoto in toe.

After Makoto had seated himself under the parasol, Ran declared that she wanted to sunbathe for a bit, and Makoto’s mother went along with that idea. This left some more space on the blanket and Makoto moved a bit as everyone would get more space. He then found his camera and took a few pictures of his children playing. Haruka and Rin appeared to be racing, parallel to the shore, while Nagisa attempted to teach Rei how to swim, needless to say that this didn’t go too well.

After a little while, Rei decided to give up on learning how to swim and went to sit on the blanket. He quickly found a book he had brought and started reading.

Not long after this, Nagisa and Haruka could be found on the sand. Nagisa was attempting to make a sand-castle and commanding Haruka around. The other didn’t seem to mind.

“Rin, come sunbathe with us!” Ran called from her position in the sand. Rin had come out of the water and was on his way up to them. He smiled as he laid down next to Ran. It wasn’t that he cared about sunbathing, it was just that there was no more room on the blanket under the parasol, so he might as well.

“Mako-chan! Mako-chan!” Nagisa now came running up from his only half-completed sand-castle. Haruka was still sitting down there, not seeming to mind that he’d been left. “Mako-chan, can I have some ice cream?” he asked.

Makoto looked thoughtful. “Does anybody else want ice cream?” he asked.

“I’ll pass,” Rei said while flipping a page in his book.

“Pass,” Rin muttered.

“I don’t want any,” Ran said and Makoto’s mother agreed.

“Didn’t we just have breakfast?” Ren asked in wonder.

Makoto nodded. “True enough,” he said. “Can you wait a bit, Nagisa?” he asked.

“But, I want ice cream now!” Nagisa whined.

Makoto stood. “Then I’ll buy you an ice cream,” he answered.

“I don’t want to be the only one getting some,” Nagisa said.

Makoto thought about that. “Then ask Haru if he want some,” he said.

Nagisa smiled widely and went down to where Haruka was still sitting. They seemed to speak for a bit before Nagisa dragged Haruka back to where Makoto was waiting and they went to buy ice cream. Haruka didn’t seem to be particularly interested but he did pick a flavor of ice cream without having Nagisa dictate anything. So Makoto ordered a vanilla and a strawberry ice cream.

Nagisa and Haruka then sat and ate their ice cream. Makoto got a picture of Nagisa with ice cream everywhere on his face and then, once Nagisa was done and had washed himself, he asked Makoto if he could borrow the camera, and took a picture of Haruka eating ice cream too.

“Look, Mako-chan,” Nagisa said as he showed the picture to Makoto.

Makoto looked at it and then smiled as he looked up at Haruka. “Are you actually enjoying it?” he asked.

Haruka turned away. “Not really,” he lied.

“Haru-chan’s cute,” Nagisa declared.

“Don’t add –chan to my name and don’t call me cute,” Haruka said, still looking away. He was happy that Rin wasn’t around or he would’ve laughed.

Once Haruka had finished his ice cream, they returned to where the others were. Makoto’s mother had moved back under the parasol and Ran had disappeared somewhere. According to the others, she had gone for a walk along the water. Haruka went to sit beside Rin who was still lying on the sand. It wasn’t long before he turned to look at Makoto.

“He’s asleep,” he said.

“Rin is?” Makoto asked.

Nagisa grabbed the camera and went to take a picture of Rin’s sleeping face.

“What should we do, Haru-chan?” he asked in a whispering voice. “Draw on his face?”

“That’s a bit childish,” Rei commented from the shade under the parasol.

Nagisa started thinking again, but the idea came from Haruka who noted that if Rin was to stay like this he would get a sunburn without a doubt. This triggered Nagisa’s idea and he smiled.

“Haru-chan,” he said. “Let’s cover him with sand!”

As gently as possible, as to not wake up the sleeping boy, Nagisa and Haruka went and gathered as much sand as they could and piled it up on top of and around Rin, creating a mountain of sand. Makoto caught a picture of it.

“Should we decorate it?” Nagisa wondered while clapping the top to make it round and hard.

“It’s a waste of time,” Haruka said. He was clapping on the side of the pile as he spoke.

“What’s a waste of time?” Rin asked, slowly waking up from his sleep. He attempted moving but failed, due to a reason he didn’t understand right away. “Did I sleep?” he asked.

“A lot, Rin-chan!” Nagisa said. “So much that the sand piled up!” he smiled as Rin started noticing what had happened and an angry frown appeared on his face.

“Let me out of here!” he yelled angrily.

“Don’t wanna!” Nagisa sang as he ran to get Makoto’s camera.

“You won’t gain much popularity for that,” Makoto remarked as Nagisa stood with the camera in both hands.

“It’s Rin-chan’s fault for sleeping,” Nagisa reasoned before he went back to take a picture of a frowning Rin. He actually took a few of those before Makoto came over and said that they should free Rin now. So he helped Nagisa and Haruka removing the pile from Rin, who afterwards went back to the hotel, too angry to speak to either Haruka or Nagisa for the rest of the day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is a reference to this in Future Parenting in the chapter where Gou and Nagisa are looking at a photo album. That's why I wrote this arc actually.   
> That's all I have to say for now. Thanks for reading.
> 
> Jackie


	28. October

The time was now mid-October. Makoto and his family had returned from Okinawa and school had started again. Life was back to normal, as normal is it got in a family with three unusually outstanding kids and one unusually normal kid. The only thing that was changing was the fact that Rei would graduate from elementary school in about half a year and Makoto was doing all he could to support his oldest child in this.

As if this wasn’t enough, the owner of the hospital in town had started buying machines to spare the doctors some work. However, since there wasn’t that much work in the hospital to begin with, most had felt like their work was taken from them and resigned. This just meant that the remaining staff got much more busy, this included Makoto.

“Are you okay, Makoto?” Haruka wasn’t looking up from his book as he asked this, but Makoto could sense the hint of concern in his voice as if he had been able to see it in his eyes.

“I’m fine, why do you ask?” Makoto asked. He was preparing dinner, chopping vegetables while rice were boiling.

Haruka wasn’t sure of how to answer. It was most something he had sensed for a while now. Makoto had seemed a bit more stressed out lately and he feared something bad was coming.

“Reminds me,” Makoto said. “The temperatures have been dropping rather quickly, so be careful with what you’re wearing out and take care. I fear a cold might be coming,”

“It’s already here,” Rei said. “About a third of my class was absent today.”

“Same here,” Rin said.

“More than half my class was absent,” Nagisa said, then a sneeze escaped him and he rubbed his nose to wipe the snot off.

“Use a tissue!” Rei exclaimed in disgust.

Makoto smiled. He liked to listen to how Rei would look out for Nagisa and how Nagisa would usually go along with it and do as Rei said, most of the time. A slight worry was also sneaking in though. He wondered if Nagisa had caught the cold too.

* * *

 

It turned out he had. The following day, early in the morning, Rei went to report that Nagisa refused to get out of bed and didn’t look too good either. Makoto then went to check on him and noted that Rei had been right. He didn’t look too well. He really looked sick. He also had a fever. This caused Makoto to go take a look at the other three too. They didn’t seem sick though.

“Can we go to school then?” Rin asked.

Makoto nodded. “As long as you’re not sick, you have to go to school,” he said.

“What about Nagisa?” Rei asked.

“It’s Saturday today,” Makoto said. “If possible, go home as fast as you can. Since we’re low on staff I can’t take the day off. I’ll be home to make dinner though,” he smiled.

“Okay,” Rin said. “Let’s go,” he turned to Haruka and Rei.

Makoto went to work too, without much of a worry. He was sure his children would be fine. However, he was proven wrong at this when he came home that same afternoon. Only Rei and Haruka were up and Rei didn’t look too good either. Only Haruka showed no sign of that cold that was spreading.

“Where’s Rin?” Makoto asked as he started preparing dinner. Haruka came to help and answered the question.

“He wasn’t feeling good, so he went to bed,” he said.

“Rin wasn’t?” Makoto found it a little weird. Rin didn’t seem like type who would let himself be forced down by something as petty as a cold. On the other hand, neither did Nagisa and he had been sick at home all day.

“You should lay down too, Rei,” Makoto said.

Rei, who had also entered the kitchen, shook his head. “I don’t feel that sick,” he said.

Makoto nodded. “You don’t look as sick as Nagisa did this morning either, but if you lay down now there’s a chance you may get better sooner,” he said.

Rei nodded. “After dinner then,” he answered before he went to do his homework for Monday. Haruka continued to help Makoto with the dinner.

At the table, Rei talked about how the cold had been spreading. Over half the students at the elementary school had been absent today. He had heard that the 3rd graders had been put in two classes instead of the four they normally were. He also said that students from other classes had been in his class today because there were too few present in their own.

Haruka said that he had had classes with Rin, which also meant that one of their classes hadn’t had enough students because in this year, Rin and Haruka were in different classes.

After dinner, Rei did as he was told and went to bed while Haruka and Makoto stayed in the kitchen to wash up.

“We should go to bed early too,” Makoto said as they were almost done washing up. They had been silent all the way up until now.

“Are you sick too?” Haruka asked.

“No,” Makoto answered. “I’m just concerned about the both of us. It would be bad if we catch cold too.”

Haruka nodded but didn’t continue the conversation. He just helped Makoto until they were done and then went to do something else. Makoto had no idea of what. He went to check on the other boys in the meantime though.

Nagisa was awake when Makoto came in. He was still having a fever. It seemed to be the same as this morning. Makoto found it was a good sign that it hadn’t increased at least.

Rin was asleep when he went to check up on him. He clearly had a fever too and Makoto went to put a cool cloth on his forehead.

Rei was awake. He also had a fever and he said that he was actually glad he went to bed. It felt like he wouldn’t be able to get up by now. Makoto just told him to get better soon and get some rest before leaving.

* * *

 

The following day they were all still sick, but Haruka still seemed unaffected by the cold. He helped Makoto out with breakfast and prepared tea for everyone and also helped Makoto take care of the other three. Rin commented that he felt pathetic, having Haruka take care of him, and demanded that he would return the favor. Haruka didn’t comment on that.

Makoto was just grateful for Haruka’s help. He would’ve felt worse if it had just been him.

But Haruka couldn’t help him forever.

The following day school was out because too many students had called in sick. Makoto had to go to work though. When he returned he found that Rei was already up and preparing tea in the kitchen and Nagisa was with him. Rin was sitting up in his bed, with Haruka sleeping next to him. It now looked like the black-haired had gotten sick.

Makoto picked Haruka up and carried him to bed. At least it seemed like the other three had gotten better since yesterday. That gave him some comfort at least.

The following day, everyone but Haruka was up. School was still out, so Makoto went to work, confident that Rin, Rei and Nagisa could take care of Haruka.

* * *

 

On Wednesday Haruka was better. He woke up on his own and felt like he couldn’t sleep any more even if he wanted to. He missed the bathtub more than anything. But before he could manage to get out of bed and sneak to the bathroom, the door was torn open and Rin stood there with wide eyes and a horrified look on his face.

“What’s going on?” Haruka asked.

Tears started welling up in Rin’s eyes as he put the words together for what he wanted to say.

“It’s Makoto…” he started and then concentrated to put the rest together. “He has a fever. He’s really sick!” He looked to be in a panic.

“What?” Haruka asked as he got out of bed. Even he had trouble comprehending this. He knew everyone could get sick, but Makoto? To all four of them, Makoto had become a pillar of strength, someone they could rely on no matter what happened. If he was sick, then Haruka wasn’t even completely sure of what to do.


	29. Caretaking

Nagisa and Rei were already in Makoto’s room as Rin and Haruka reached them. Makoto was asleep and Rei was checking up on him at the moment.

“How is he?” Rin asked.

“His fever is rather high…” Rei said.

“Is Mako-chan dying?” Nagisa asked while looking up at Rei with teary eyes.

“I don’t know. I don’t even know what could’ve caused this,” Rei answered truthfully. He turned back to Makoto and placed a cool cloth on his forehead.

“Could it just be the cold that we all caught?” Rin asked. “It doesn’t seem unlikely.”

“It’s more than that,” Rei said. “A cold normally wouldn’t get this bad, and not so quickly either… unless he got sick before and just pretended to be fine to take care of us.”

Haruka thought. “What about stress and overwork?” he asked.

All eyes turned to him. It seemed neither of the others had thought of this as something that could cause Makoto to get sick like this.

“Makoto has been working hard lately. When he comes home he shows signs of having been working hard and after we all got sick, his work didn’t stop once he came home because he had to take care of us. Of course the cold also plays a part,” Haruka explained.

“You think that could be it?” Rin asked, looking from Rei to Haruka.

“What do we do then?” Nagisa asked.

“What do we do about what?” Makoto asked in a tired voice. His eyes were only half open as he turned his head to look at his boys’ worried expressions.

“How are you feeling, Makoto?” Rei asked.

“Tired,” Makoto answered truthfully. “Don’t worry. I’ll be up in a bit,” he said, smiling.

All the boys shook their heads and Rei looked at Makoto. “Stay in bed. We’ll take care of you. You have a high fever,” he explained.

Makoto smiled. “So that’s what the worried looks are about.” He turned to look at Haruka. “Should you be up already?” he asked.

Rin looked to Haruka as well. There was still a hint of a flush on his cheeks from the fever but it clearly wasn’t as bad as it had been on the day before.

“You’re still sick Haru, go back to bed!” Rin said.

“You were the one who got me out of bed in the first place,” Haruka answered.

“You could’ve just said you wanted to stay in bed!” Rin yelled.

“If you wanted to give me a choice you shouldn’t have said that-.“ Haruka was cut off by Nagisa stepping in between them.

“Stop it, Rin-chan, Haru-chan. Don’t argue here!” he yelled at both of them.

Rin and Haruka looked from Nagisa, to Rei and Makoto and then to each other before they nodded. This wasn’t the time or the place to start an argument, especially not while Makoto was there.

“I’ll go make some tea,” Haruka said.

“Are you going back to bed then?” Rin asked.

“Yeah,” Haruka answered, knowing he would cause another argument to break out if he didn’t. It was strange how he felt like he’d become more conscious of this. He had become a bit more aware of when it wasn’t okay to start an argument with Rin and he felt like they had become better at making up too. He wondered if this would’ve happened anyways or if it was thanks to them being taken in by Makoto.

Haruka went out of the room and downstairs to prepare the tea while the others stayed back in Makoto’s room. They had a bit more questions to ask him before he went back to sleep.

“What else should we do?” Rin asked, completely out of ideas of how to take action in this situation.

Makoto thought. “First off, call the hospital and tell them I’m sick,” he said. “I’m not even sure I could get up if I wanted to.” He smiled as he said this. “Then…” He thought some more before speaking again. “I don’t want to worry too many people. This will be over soon anyways,” he said. “Do you three think you can take care of the house just for today and perhaps tomorrow?” he asked.

Rei nodded. “But what about food?” he asked.

“The convenience store should be open,” Rin said. “We could go there and buy meals?”

Makoto nodded. “There are also some leftovers in the fridge. Eat them first, and just come ask me if you need to know more of what to do.”

All three nodded.

“Nagisa, we should go do whatever homework you have.” For a change, it was Rin who suggested this. Normally it would be Rei who spoke of homework, but Rin figured that since he was the more mature one, he would have to be responsible for taking care of Makoto.

“If you say so, Rin-chan,” Nagisa agreed before he and Rin headed out of the room. Rei followed shortly after.

“Rei,” Makoto called before he could leave.

Rei stopped in the doorway and looked back at Makoto. “What is it? Do you need something?” he asked.

“Are you all okay, Haru’s still sick but what about the rest of you?” Makoto asked.

“We’re fine,” Rei said. “Haruka’s fever seems to have gone down and Rin, Nagisa and I have almost no traces of being sick left. You don’t need to worry about us, just worry about getting better soon,” he said.

Makoto smiled. “Thank you, all of you,” he said before he closed his eyes to go back to sleep. Rei closed the door behind him.

* * *

 

Makoto was sick for two full days but when he called in on Friday morning to say that he would come to work, they told him to stay home for the rest of the week until he had rested up enough.

“They probably don’t want to risk that I infect anyone,” Makoto said, smiling as he hung up. “How long is school out anyways?” he asked.

“The plan is that we start up again on Monday,” Rei said. They had received a letter from the school on that same morning.

“I think we were lucky,” Rin said as he slowly dug into one of the convenience store meals he and Rei had been out buying on the day before.

“How so, Rin-chan?” Nagisa asked.

“I heard from one of my classmates that both he and his little sister have been sick for nearly a week now,” Rin answered.

“Was that the one you were on the phone with last night?” Nagisa asked. “I thought it was your girlfriend,” he smiled widely as he teased Rin.

“I’m 10 years old. I don’t have a girlfriend!” Rin yelled.

“It’ll be good once things can go back to normal,” Makoto said while looking at Haruka. “I’m sure you miss swimming too. Don’t you?” he asked.

Haruka felt like he’d been read like an open book but he said nothing. In truth, this had just been what he’d been thinking anyways. He really missed the water. It wasn’t until this morning he’d been allowed to use the bathtub. Makoto and Rei had both been strict about it. The argument was that they didn’t want him to get sick again. Haruka didn’t want to get sick again either, but he didn’t think the water would do that to him. The water liked him after all.

“Anyways,” Makoto raised his voice as everyone could hear him. “Let’s put some warm clothes on and go grocery shopping. I want to make something delicious tonight, seeing as we’ve all recovered.” He smiled as he said this.

“I want mackerel,” Haruka stated.

“Nobody else wants that!” Rin yelled. “I want a hot-pot!”

“Yay! Hot-pot!” Nagisa yelled happily.

“A hot-pot doesn’t sound so bad considering how cold it has become outside,” Rei answered with a gentle smile on his face.

Makoto nodded. “Then let’s make a hot-pot,” he said while sending Haruka an apologizing look. He knew that mackerel had become Haruka’s favorite dish. But this was democracy after all and he was personally more up for the hot-pot too than the mackerel and he knew Haruka would go along with it if everyone else did.

So only five minutes later, they were all dressed in warm clothing and went down to get all the ingredients they would need for a hot-pot. And that night they celebrated that none of them were sick anymore.


	30. Others

Rin zipped his bag and looked up to see how far the other two were. He, Haruka and Nagisa had just finished their first practice after spring break. It had been nice to return. The swimming club had been closed throughout the entire break. This also meant that Haruka had taken up the bathtub for about an hour at least once a day in all this time.

Nagisa was still drying himself. He had a lot of trouble remembering to dry himself everywhere, so Rei had told him to dry himself twice, just to be sure he was completely dry. And because Rei was so dear to Nagisa, the younger happily did this to please him. But he still refused to study.

Haruka was still in the showers. He had been late getting out of the pool too. It wasn’t like Rin didn’t understand, Haruka had missed the water a lot after all. It was just so annoying.

“Haru, we’re leaving without you if you don’t hurry,” Rin said halfheartedly. It wasn’t like he didn’t intend to leave Haruka behind. He’d done it before when he found the other was too slow, but he knew that Haruka couldn’t care less about it.

“Are we gonna leave Haru-chan behind?” Nagisa asked as he dried his hair for the third time.

“If he doesn’t hurry. You’ve already done that twice,” Rin informed Nagisa.

Nagisa blinked, slightly confused but then he seemed to remember and smiled. “Then I guess I’m done, thanks Rin-chan,” he said before packing the towel away and taking out his clothes.

Haruka came out of the showers and grabbed his own towel. He dried himself off with careless movements. If Rin had to take a guess it seemed like Haruka didn’t want to be dry at all. He wondered why the black-haired hadn’t been born in the water.

Rin sat down on one of the benches and put on his shoes. This was the last thing he needed to do before he was ready to leave. Haruka started putting on his clothes and Nagisa did the same.

Haruka was done first. He finished tying his shoes when Nagisa was still in the middle of pulling his shirt over his head. That was somewhat a benefit for Haruka. He would always be slow to get out of the water but he was always quick when it came to getting dressed, and undressed for that matter.

“Now it’s you we might leave behind,” Rin teased Nagisa as he picked up his bag and prepared to stand.

“That’s so mean, Rin-chan!” Nagisa whined. He sat down to tie his shoes quickly. “Haru-chan, you won’t leave me, right?” he asked, worriedly.

“Only if you can’t keep up,” Haruka answered.

“We’re going,” Rin kept on teasing as he prepared to leave the room. Haruka followed him.

“You’re mean!” Nagisa yelled as he clumsily finished tying his shoes and hurried up after the others as quickly as his legs could carry him.

Rin and Haruka had barely heard the door close behind them before Nagisa was out of the room with them and they started making their way out of the swimming club. The plan was that they would run home together, but before they could get out, they were stopped.

“Isn’t that Hazuki Nagisa?” a woman asked. “Oh, and Matsuoka Rin and Nanase Haruka are there too!” she smiled as all three boys turned their heads at the mention of their names.

“How do you know us?” Rin asked.

“My daughter swam with Hazuki-kun for until three years ago,” the woman said. “Suzuki Asuka,” the woman said, looking at Nagisa, half expecting him to remember.

“Asu-cha-… no, Suzuki-san!” Nagisa smiled. He did remember her. “She quit once she could swim, but why are you here now?” he asked.

“My son is swimming now,” the woman said.

“That doesn’t explain how you remember me and Haru,” Rin told the woman who nodded.

“I ran into Tachibana-san outside the orphanage one day and ended up talking to him and a friend of mine. It was when he said he wouldn’t adopt more children that you, Matsuoka-kun, came out and told him to do it anyway,” the woman explained.

Rin looked surprised at first, then a bit embarrassed by it.

Haruka noticed Nagisa’s shoelaces. They had become untied from him running those few steps. He really hadn’t had time to do them properly. Therefore Haruka now knelt down in front of Nagisa to tie them for him because he clearly hadn’t noticed.

“What are you doing, Haru-chan?” Nagisa asked.

“Your shoes weren’t tied properly,” Haruka answered as he finished tying one of Nagisa’s shoes.

Nagisa smiled, surprised but happy too. “Thank you Haru-chan!” he exclaimed.

“Anyways,” the woman spoke to Rin seeing as the other two were more concentrated about one another. “I’m kind of curious about how things have been going. It is no secret that you, Nanase-kun and Hazuki-kun are called troublemakers all the way through town. Have you caused too much trouble for Tachibana-san?” she asked.

Rin shook his head. “Not what I know of. And what about Rei?” he asked.

The woman smiled. “I had Hazuki-kun and Ryugazaki-kun over for dinner about a year before they were adopted. Ryugazaki is a proper child with good manners and a sense of what to do and what not to do,” she said. “I’m not worried about him. He is a good child.” She went back to the subject she had questioned before. “What has been going down since you were adopted, it’s been almost two years now if I’m not mistaken?”

“Haru, Rei, Nagisa and I have learned to get along and treat each other like siblings. We also get well along with Makoto’s family, his parents and siblings. Haru and I have learned to argue a bit less, at least Makoto said we are arguing less,” Rin explained, causing the woman to smile.

“What about Hazuki-kun and Ryugazaki-kun?” she asked.

Rin shook his head while thinking. “I don’t remember how they were before, but Nagisa doesn’t seem to be as bad a troublemaker as the rumors made him out to be.” He smiled as he gave his answer.

“Rin,” Haruka placed a hand on Rin’s shoulder to claim his attention, once Rin looked at him he spoke. “We should go,” he said.

“I’m talking, Haru,” Rin said.

“Haru-chan’s right,” Nagisa said. “If we don’t get home in time for dinner, Mako-chan will be worried about where we are.”

Rin saw their point then and nodded. “Okay, then let’s go home.” He turned to the woman. “It was nice talking to you,” he said politely.

“Likewise, Matsuoka-kun. Send my regards to Tachibana-san,” she said.

“Bye,” Nagisa waved as he almost pushed Rin and Haruka out of the swimming club with one hand while waving at the woman with the other. “Say hi to Asu-chan for me!”

They all ran home, Nagisa and Rin were talking until about half way when Haruka had gained a large lead and was far ahead of them. Then Rin cut the conversation and started sprinting to catch up with Haruka. He absolutely couldn’t stand loosing, especially not to his twin.

Nagisa could only do his absolute best to keep up with the two older boys, but he still came home last, like always.

“There you are!” Makoto sounded relieved as the three barged through the door and into the house. They were well aware that they had come home a bit late compared to what was normal.

“We ran into someone who wanted to talk,” Rin said.

“Who?” Makoto asked, not like it was any of his business, or so he believed, but he was a bit curious.

“Suzuki-san,” Nagisa said. “The mother of Suzuki Asuka who quit swimming three years ago,” he explained, hoping to trigger Makoto’s memory. It worked.

“Suzuki…” he said thoughtfully. “Of course she wanted to talk. She has played a part in our story after all.”

“So she said,” Rin answered while he and the others were taking off their shoes and started heading inside towards the living room where their dinner was all set.

Makoto smiled. “She must’ve been surprised,” he said. “You’ve changed so much since she last saw you. You’ve all grown a lot. And Rei too,” he added.


	31. Lies

“Hazuki! Wanna walk with us to the swimming club?” two of Nagisa’s classmates asked. Two weeks of the new school year had passed and these two kids had just started swimming. However, today Nagisa had other plans.

“Sorry!” he said, smiling. “I agreed that I’d go with Rin-chan and Haru-chan today!” He zipped his bag and went outside of the school building to wait for Rin and Haruka. They were off around the same time this year, which made it easy for them to plan on meeting up and go to the swimming club together.

Nagisa sat down and waited patiently for Rin and Haruka to come out. He ended up waiting for somewhere between five and ten minutes before the door opened and Rin came out in a hurry.

“Rin-chan!” Nagisa yelled as soon as he saw Rin. He jumped up and hurried up to him.

“Sorry, guess I’m a bit late,” Rin said, smiling awkwardly. “I was held up by our English teacher,” he said.

“What for?” Nagisa asked.

“Apparently I’m good at English for a kid my age,” Rin answered. “Anyways, where’s Haru?” he asked.

“Haru-chan hasn’t shown up yet,” Nagisa said with a slightly disappointed look. “Think he forgot?”

Rin shook his head. “Haru isn’t one to forget,” he said. “Maybe he was held up too, for drifting off in class or something?” he suggested.

“Let’s wait for Haru-chan then,” Nagisa said before going back to where he sat before. Rin followed him and they sat together for two more minutes. Then both Rin and Nagisa started growing worried and the latter stood.

“I’m gonna go find Haru-chan,” he said as he headed back towards the school building.

“Go ahead,” Rin said. He stayed outside, just waiting, and this was probably a good thing, at least for now, or so Nagisa should come to think.

Nagisa walked down the hallway where the 5th graders had their classroom. Haruka was in class 2 whereas Rin was in class 1. Class 2 was a little further down the hallway. When Nagisa reached the door, he stopped to look inside.

He couldn’t hear a thing. It was silent in there. He couldn’t see anyone either. Had Haruka gone on ahead without them or something? It wasn’t like him to ignore a promise though.

Nagisa decided to go in and see if Haruka’s bag was still there, but when he took the first step inside the room, he caught sight of Haruka standing by a locker in the back of the classroom. He was stretching as far as he could but he couldn’t reach whatever he needed. Nagisa looked upward and saw a book lying there. It was just that one book and he was pretty sure it was the Japanese textbook for 5th grade.

Nagisa took a step back as he couldn’t be seen if Haruka happened to turn around. He knew that it would be better of him to offer his help, but Haruka just gave off a vibe that told Nagisa he didn’t want anyone to help him. He didn’t want anyone to see him either, so Nagisa agreed with himself to just silently watch and wait.

It didn’t take long before Haruka gave up on his struggles to get the book down by attempting to reach as far as he could. He would never be able to reach far enough anyway. Nagisa watched as he went and grabbed his own chair, which was near the back, and brought it to the closet. He looked around as if to see if anyone was watching and then stepped up on the chair to get the book. It was now within his reach.

Nagisa pulled back quickly and hurried off as silently as possible. Once he turned away from the hallway, he ran the last bit down to the yard where Rin was still waiting. He didn’t know how long he had taken, but longer than he should have. He would have to say something, but what?

“Took you long enough, where is Haru?” Rin asked as he stood up upon seeing Nagisa.

“Haru-chan is coming in a moment,” Nagisa said.

“What held him up?” Rin asked.

“I don’t know,” Nagisa lied nervously.

Rin sighed. He had seen through Nagisa’s lie, but he also knew that there was always a reason for Nagisa to lie and he had a feeling that if he wanted the truth, Nagisa wasn’t the one he should ask for it.

Haruka then came out with a gloomy expression on his face. He didn’t say a single word as he walked up to them, he didn’t even apologized for being 20 minutes late.

“What took you so long?” Rin asked.

“Nothing important,” Haruka answered.

“Did you run into Nagisa in there?” Rin asked.

Nagisa nearly panicked. “No!” he exclaimed. “I… I lied, Rin-chan. I didn’t see Haru-chan in there, I just said he’d be here shortly because I was sure he would be!” This was another even bigger lie, but like this, no one would know the truth or have any desire to know it, or so Nagisa hoped.

Rin sent Nagisa a reproachful and irritated look while Haruka looked more relieved than anything else. Nagisa felt relieved too. It seemed like his lie had worked.

They went to the swimming practice together and everything went fine. Nagisa didn’t forget what had happened earlier that day, but he didn’t think about it as much while having fun with his friends at the swimming club. He went home with Rin and Haruka afterwards, as usual, and they had dinner with Rei and Makoto.

It wasn’t until way later when Nagisa was reminded of what had happened again. He was preparing to go to bed when he walked by Rin’s room and heard the two talking.

“What’s wrong, Haru?” Rin asked.

“Nothing,” Haruka answered.

“Don’t lie, just tell me,” Rin demanded.

“What makes you think something’s wrong?” Haruka asked then. Nagisa stopped outside the door to listen.

“Nagisa,” Rin said, it wasn’t like he knew Nagisa was outside, it was just his answer to Haruka’s question.

“What about him?” Haruka asked.

Rin sighed, irritated. “He was lying,” Rin answered. “I’m sure he saw something while he was inside looking for you.”

“What did he say?”

“He won’t say anything. When I asked him about what held you up he said he didn’t know, and then he said he didn’t see you at all, yet he knew you would be out with us not so long after he came out.”

“It probably has nothing to do with me,” Haruka denied.

“Why won’t you tell me anything?!” Rin yelled in frustration.

“There’s nothing to tell,” Haruka answered, irritated.

Nagisa decided to get to bed quickly. If he was caught eavesdropping he would be in even bigger trouble. They were already questioning his lies. He hoped it wouldn’t get worse. He didn’t want to be dragged into a conflict between the twins. He had tried that once before and it hadn’t gone well. Both had been mad at him for an entire day afterwards. If he didn’t want to be involved, it would be best if he avoided Rin and Haruka for a little while.


	32. Exposed

Rin was getting curious, more for each passing day, especially since the day when Nagisa had started lying. Haruka was sure that Rin knew nothing of what was going on except that something wasn’t right. He was just as sure of this as he was sure that Nagisa knew something, but what that was and how much he knew was unclear to Haruka. But he had been acting weird lately. He was completely avoiding both Rin and Haruka as much as he possibly could.

Haruka had a pretty good feeling where the root of all this was, Nagisa’s weird behavior and the increasing tension between him and Rin. It could all be traced back to one thing, the school, more precisely, a few of Haruka’s own classmates.

Haruka wasn’t very social, so him acting distant towards his fellow students was nothing out of the ordinary. What caused the problem was how they acted towards him. It wasn’t obvious, if you only happened to see it once or twice you would just think someone was pranking him. But if one were to watch more closely, they would see that it wasn’t just pranking on the innocent, friendly level.

On this day in June when they were to have a swimming lesson with class 1, some of Haruka’s classmates decided to pull another prank on him.

It was right before class 1 arrived and Haruka was standing with the other boys from his class by the poolside. They could hear the other students approaching. Haruka was standing in his own thoughts, trying to not look too much at the pool, knowing he would be tempted to jump in if he dared to look.

But just before the students of class 1 turned the corner, Haruka felt a hand in his side and he was pushed over as he fell into the pool, sideways. It created a huge splash. Haruka listened to the sound as he felt the water closing in around him. Butterflies of happiness were flying around in his stomach as he kicked off the wall and slowly started moving through the water. He didn’t allow his head to rise above the surface until he was at the other side.

“What are you doing, Nanase!” the teacher yelled. “Get out of the water!”

Haruka had stopped counting all the times someone had yelled that at him. It only happened too often. He was surprised Makoto hadn’t heard any of it yet. Maybe he would this time? Haruka hoped not. That would mean he would either have to lie, or tell about these “pranks”. He didn’t really feel up for either one.

“Nanase, you’re giving us a bad reputation!” one of those from Haruka’s class yelled.

Haruka didn’t say anything, but he did swim back across the pool and got out of the water to stand with his classmates. He noticed how Rin was sending him a strange look, like he was asking what this was all about.

The teacher started introducing what would be going on today. They had to practice saving someone in the water and bring them out.

“So you really do like water,” a boy whispered while looking at Haruka through the corner of his eye.

“Sure seems like he does,” another said.

“So he’s a anti-social person with a girl’s name and a relationship with water. What a freak,” a third whispered while smirking all over his face.

Haruka said nothing. His breath was wasted on someone like these. But he couldn’t help but feel a bit irritated about their judgement. He missed the water, and so he jumped back into the pool causing the teacher to yell at him again.

* * *

 

Almost a month passed. During this month Haruka noticed how the pranks worsened every day. One day there was no lunch for him, for reasons unknown to most. Another day Haruka found garbage in his desk and one other time someone had poured melted ice cream all over his desk during one of the breaks.

It was now the final day of school before summer break would start and today the people from Haruka’s class had really pulled the worst prank of all, in Haruka’s opinion.

His bag had gone missing and he had walked around, looking for it. It had been a gift from Makoto. He had given a schoolbag to each of the twins the day before they transferred into their new school, and now it had gone missing.

Haruka ended up finding it in the pool, everything was either flouting or had sunken to the bottom.

He stared at the scene for a few seconds before stripping down to his swimsuit and jumping into the pool. He had no other option but to gather everything down there. Looking on the bright side, it was summer, so the water was warm enough that he won’t get sick.

Haruka had just managed to pick up everything and was about to climb out of the pool when a boy kicked his bag as it fell down in the pool again. Another pushed Haruka away from the poolside as he fell back into the water and swallowed a mouthful of it. He surfaced, and gasped for air while coughing trying to get the water out of his lungs.

“Look, he likes water so much he’d even drown for it,” one of the boys grinned. The others laughed.

“Don’t touch him anymore,” another said. “He’ll infect you with his weirdness,”

Haruka ignored them and went to gather his things again. They had fallen out of the bag once more when it had been thrown back into the pool.

“Would you cut all of that out!” Everyone turned their heads to see Rin standing in the entrance to the pool area. He looked like he was boiling with anger.

“Matsuoka-kun?” The boys stopped and stared at Rin. It was obvious they never intended for him to find out about all this. Haruka hadn’t wanted that either for that matter.

“I’m not blind and I’m not stupid,” Rin said. “You’ve been picking on Haru ever since we got here two years ago,” he said. His fists were tightened up and his eyes were burning with rage. It was the first time Haruka ever saw him like that.

“No we didn’t…” One of the boys tried to deny it. “We just happened to pass by here,”

Rin shook his head. “If I ever suspect you are bullying Haru again, it’ll be your bags floating in the school pool,” he said.

The boys nodded and then left.

Rin turned to Haruka and looked at him. “Will you be okay?” he asked.

Haruka nodded and picked up a floating book. He wondered what to do with all his books and papers being wet and all. The bag could be washed and dried off as it didn’t smell like chlorine, but the books were useless by now.

Rin knelt down by the poolside and started putting the items Haruka had already gathered back into the bag. He then turned to help Haruka gather the last few things, of those he could reach, and then he looked at the black-haired in the water.

“You’ve got some explaining to do, you know,” he said.

“It doesn’t matter, it probably won’t happen again,” Haruka answered in a lethargic tone.

“Although I only took a guess when I said this had been going on all along, I’m pretty sure I’m right,” Rin said. “Besides, you have to explain to Makoto how your bag ended up like this.”

Haruka knew. Rin didn’t have to tell him. This was something he couldn’t lie about. Rin would see to it that he didn’t.

Rin reached out a hand towards Haruka like Makoto would do when Haruka had been in the bathtub for too long. Haruka considered not accepting it, but then decided against it. Rin had just openly showed how much he cared, it was only right for Haruka to do this much for him in return, if he shouldn’t do a little more than this in return.

Haruka grabbed Rin’s hand and allowed him to drag him out of the pool. He then pulled his clothes back on, causing them to get soaking wet, and then he picked up his even more soaking wet bag.

Rin smiled. “Let’s go home, Haru,” he said as he started leading the way out of the pool area. Haruka followed right behind him.

They walked in silence almost half the way back home. Haruka didn’t want to say anything and Rin didn’t say a word either, not to begin with anyways. But the silence was broken at one point.

“You kept it well hidden,” Rin said suddenly.

Haruka only turned his head with questioning eyes, wondering what Rin meant.

“All this,” Rin continued. “I don’t think anyone at home has noticed anything. I might be the first one to know this,” he said.

“I didn’t want you to know,” Haruka said.

Rin nodded. “That’s so like you,” he said. “Still, I wish I’d noticed it sooner…”

Haruka sensed the feeling of guilt in Rin’s voice. He hadn’t thought Rin would end up feeling like that, but he knew it wasn’t Rin’s fault. He therefore did something he wouldn’t normally do. He reached out a hand and placed it on Rin’s shoulder for comfort.

“If it was up to me, you would’ve never noticed,” he said, and Rin nodded and smiled vaguely.

“Yeah,” he said and then they fell silent as they walked the last bit home together.


	33. Solution

Makoto, Nagisa and Rei were all at home. Since the four boys were on summer break starting today, Makoto had promised to make something good for dinner. Therefore everyone had agreed to come straight home after school.

Haruka and Rin were the only ones who hadn’t returned yet. They should have gotten off from school about an hour ago, so Makoto was getting a little worried about them.

“Aren’t Rin and Haruka late?” Rei asked, as if voicing Makoto’s worries.

“Maybe something came up?” Makoto wondered.

“They’ll come soon,” Nagisa said with certainty. “Rin-chan and Haru-chan won’t allow themselves to be late, not today!”

Makoto smiled. “You’re right Nagisa, we shouldn’t worry.”

Just then the door opened and they could hear Rin and Haruka entering the house. Now, they didn’t know it was those two, but who else would it be?

“Makoto, come out here a second!” Rin called

Makoto came out to where the two were standing, just in front of the door. It didn’t take long for Makoto to figure out why they were still standing there. Water was dripping from Haruka’s bag and his clothes were wet as well.

“Haru-chan…” Nagisa whispered. He and Rei had come out too and stood behind Makoto.

“What happened?” Makoto asked as he went and took the soaking wet bag from Haruka’s hand.

Haruka looked at Rin without saying anything, but Rin looked back at him with irritated eyes. “You tell him,” he demanded.

“Later,” Haruka said as he took off his shoes. At least they were dry.

Makoto nodded. “That may be a good idea,” he said. “Go up and take a warm bath and change. I’ll see what can be done about your books and the bag in the meantime.”

Haruka did as he was told. He went up to take a bath and as usual, he stayed in the tub until the water had gone cold and didn’t get up until Makoto came up to get him.

“Are you okay?” Makoto asked as he went into the room.

Haruka nodded. He was perfectly fine. He just liked the water a lot.

“Then come,” Makoto reached out a hand to help Haruka out of the tub. “We’re about to have dinner,” he smiled.

Haruka reached up and grabbed Makoto’s hand, allowing him to pull him up. He then dried himself off and went to get dressed in some fresh clothes. Makoto waited for him until he was done and then they headed downstairs to have dinner with the others.

* * *

 

After they had finished eating and washing the dishes was when Makoto decided to ask about what had happened again.

“Why were you all wet when you came home?” he asked Haruka. “And what happened to your bag?”

“It was thrown in the pool and I went to pick it up,” Haruka answered.

“It shouldn’t have taken that long to get it back,” Rei said.

“Those who threw it in came back and did it once again,” Rin said. “I saw it the second time they did it, and gave them a piece of my mind.”

Makoto smiled at Rin’s choice of words. “Of course,” he said. He then got a concerned look on his face and turned back to look at Haruka. “Haru… are you being bullied?” he asked.

“Probably,” Haruka answered.

“For how long?” Makoto asked, hoping it would just be an answer like ‘this month’ or ‘since we started 5th grade’ or something like that.

“Probably since we transferred school,” Haruka said.

“And you never thought it was something we’d want to know!” Rin yelled.

“I told you I didn’t want you to know,” Haruka answered, irritated.

“Was it always this bad?” Makoto asked.

“No,” Haruka answered. “It was nothing but notes and whispers in the corners at first, all the way through 3rd grade. It would be paper-balls shot at me, some mean acting or a push every now and then in 4th grade. They only just started getting creative,” he finished.

“How so?” Makoto asked.

“Garbage in the desk, misplaced things… stuff like that,” Haruka answered.

Nagisa moved uncomfortably as Haruka mentioned the latter thing and this didn’t go beyond anyone’s attention.

“Nagisa?” Rin asked in a dangerous tone, suspecting that Nagisa had something to do with all this. “What did you do?”

“Nothing,” Nagisa answered.

“Do you have something to do with any of this?” Rin asked.

“He doesn’t,” Haruka said. “Not more than you anyways.”

“What does he have to do with it then?” Rin asked.

Haruka hesitated and then shook his head, signaling that he didn’t know.

“What do you have to do with it?” Makoto turned to Nagisa to ask the question.

Nagisa hesitated. He wasn’t sure if he should say it, but seeing as it was all out in the open, then it might be for the better if he let them know what he had seen.

“When I went into the school to look for Haru-chan, I really did find him,” he started. “One of his books seemed to have been misplaced and I watched him getting it. I had a feeling Haru-chan didn’t want anyone to know, not me either, so I didn’t say anything,” Nagisa explained.

“So you decided lying about it all was better!” Rin yelled.

Haruka looked at Nagisa with a hint of approval in his eyes. It seemed the blonde understood him better than he’d thought. “Thank you, Nagisa,” he said.

Nagisa’s eyes became full of tears and he sniffed as he nodded. Then he ran up to hug Haruka tightly. He started crying loudly as he did and Haruka was overwhelmed by the surprise of Nagisa doing this so suddenly. He hadn’t expected it at all, and therefore it took a little time before he reacted. He placed one hand on Nagisa’s bag and didn’t do anything else. He could accept Nagisa’s hug just this once.

“May I ask why you were being bullied, Haruka?” Rei asked.

“I’m different,” Haruka answered.

“We’re all different,” Makoto said, not really understanding.

“Haru likes water too much, that’s probably why,” Rin said. “Also his name is girly.”

“So is yours,” Haruka pointed out.

“Don’t go there!” Rin yelled.

“All our names are girly,” Makoto said. “Mine, Nagisa’s and Rei’s names are all girly too, so that’s really nothing to be ashamed about or anything.” He smiled as he said this.

Rei nodded. “I was never bullied for it though.”

“Me neither,” Nagisa sniffed from Haruka’s chest where his face was buried.

Makoto laughed. “I was only teased about my name in the beginning of elementary school, but it never really bothered me that much,” he explained. “Anyways, I hope those who were bullying you will leave you alone now, Haru,” he said.

“Either they do, or their bags will be floating in the pool,” Rin said coldly.

Makoto smiled at this. This was just like something Rin would say, not caring about the consequences. He would admit that this somewhat made him happy. Once again Rin had shown exactly how much he cared for his twin.


	34. Best

“What events are you participating in?” It was Nagisa who asked while he, Rin and Haruka were running home from swimming. It was one of the last practices before the final tournament of the school year. It was a tournament on a large scale. All the swimming clubs in the area would be there and everyone at the swimming club talked about this.

“I’m entering the 50 meter breast stroke, the 50 meter free, the 100 meter free and the 100 meter butterfly event,” Rin said, smiling.

“Rin-chan’s amazing!” Nagisa exclaimed while sending Rin an admiring look. “What about Haru-chan?” he asked then, looking to Haruka who hadn’t been looking the slightest bit impressed as Rin had listed his events.

“I only swim free,” Haruka answered.

“That’s our Haru-chan,” Nagisa said, though he didn’t feel like he had had his question answered.

“Haru is entering the 50 meter free, the 100 meter free and the 200 meter free,” Rin answered in Haruka’s place, to satisfy Nagisa.

“Haru-chan’s amazing too!” Nagisa declared. “But why are you entering the 50 meter breast, Rin-chan?” he asked, only now wondering about it.

“I was told to try out something new,” Rin answered. “What are you participating in?” he then asked Nagisa.

“I’m only in the 100 meter breaststroke event,” Nagisa said with a slightly displeased look. He had wanted to be able to participate in more events like Rin and Haruka, but his coach said it might be a bad idea to participate in the 200 meter breaststroke and his time hadn’t qualified for the 50 meter breaststroke.

“At least you get to swim,” Rin said, sensing Nagisa’s feeling of disappointment with himself. “There are others from your team who don’t,” he smiled, trying to cheer up the younger, and it worked.

“You’re right, Rin-chan,” Nagisa said.

They continued on talking while running home until Haruka told them that he’d leave them behind if they kept it up, and they all picked up the pace to make sure they’d be home as soon as possible.

* * *

 

The tournament was the last one Rin and Haruka would take part in before they became 6th graders. After this, they only had a year until they couldn’t attend the tournaments anymore. Rei had said there was a swim club at the middle school, so Rin had decided that both he and Haruka would join it when they entered.

Now the day of the tournament had arrived. The breaststroke events were first. Rin took part and came in 2nd place. Nagisa was up next for the 100 meter breast stroke. Haruka and Rin were both watching from the sidelines as Nagisa lined up with the others and was instructed to take his mark. The tension was thick in the air and everyone held their breaths until the signal was given.

All the breaststroke swimmers jumped in the water and started swimming like their lives depended on it. Rin and Haruka had both noticed that all of them were both older and bigger than Nagisa, which gave him a slight disadvantage. If he won, it would be a miracle.

Nagisa swam. He took one stroke after another and kept on fighting. He was somewhere in the middle when they reached the turn. He was 5th upon entering, but since the one who held 4th place was slow, he ended up overtaking them in the turn and then took 4th place.

As the race progressed, Rin started noticing a change in Nagisa’s stroke. It seemed he was getting faster the closer they got to finish. He was catching up to the three in the lead and within a few strokes he had overtaken 3rd place.

“It is as if his arms are stretching out…” Rin mumbled as he watched the younger boy also catching up to and overtaking second place. There were now only a few meters left until the finish line and he was almost even with 1st place.

A few moments later the race was over and as if on reflex, Rin looked up to the board to see who had won. To his surprise and joy, there was a 1 in front of Nagisa’s name, and he smiled.

“And Nagisa thinks we’re amazing?” he wondered.

Next up were the backstroke events. Rin, Haruka and Nagisa knew no one who were participating there but then came the butterfly event and Rin swam his 100 meter butterfly and came in 2nd place again. However, the gap between him and 1st place was fairly small.

After this came the freestyle events. The 50 meter free event was up first. Haruka and Rin were up against each other and Nagisa was watching from the sidelines, not knowing who of them to cheer for.

The swimmers were instructed to take their marks and then the signal to start was given and they jumped off in the exact same time. Due to Rin’s kick, he was brought far ahead of the other swimmers. None of the others, not even Haruka, seemed to hold a candle to him, but slowly Haruka started separating from the other swimmers. He was gaining on Rin due to his fast stroke, but before he had the time to overtake him, Rin reached the other end and finished.

“So I am the better,” Rin smiled as he climbed out of the pool.

“We’ll see,” Haruka answered while also climbing out of the water. He had had a feeling this would happen anyways. It was no secret that Rin had a strong kick. You needed a really fast stroke if you wanted to win against him in 50 meter free. The 100 meter free was a different story though.

This was the next event coming up. After a short break swimmers were summoned to the starting blocks. There were two rounds of the event because there were so many participating. Haruka and Rin were in the same, and again they were swimming in the lanes next to each other.

Nagisa was still watching from the sidelines as Rin and Haruka took their marks. He always loved watching Rin and Haruka race. They were both amazing swimmers and it created an energy between them that you would only find among the strongest bonds between rivals and friends.

The signal to start was given and Rin and Haruka jumped off again. It was like the 50 meter race, Rin was brought ahead, but Haruka was catching up again and they were almost even in the turn. However, Rin’s kick brought him ahead again and Haruka had to fight to keep up. But because he had already gained a lot on Rin it didn’t take him as long to catch up as it had before.

Other swimmers were trying their hardest to overtake one another, but they all knew that they were only fighting for 3rd place. With Rin and Haruka in the water 1st and 2nd place was off limits to them.

Rin and Haruka were about even. They were tying for 1st and all eyes were on them. They didn’t seem to be aware of this fact though. Nagisa saw it and felt strangely happy about it. He was happy that so many people could see Rin and Haruka swim and experience how amazing they were in the water.

Rin and Haruka finished around the same time. The place exploded with cheers as both’ heads surfaced from the water and Rin looked to see his time. Nagisa looked too and saw a 2 in front of Rin’s name and a 1 in front of Haruka’s name. Haruka had won.

“Damn it!” Rin exclaimed before climbing out of the water. Haruka did the same without saying a single word. He needed to relax a bit before the 200 meter free would start.

Rin and Nagisa were watching as Haruka swam his last event and made it to 2nd place.

“If he’d been at full strength he would’ve won,” Rin muttered, irritated.

“Haru-chan did really good. It wasn’t much time between him and 1st place,” Nagisa said with a wide smile. He still thought that both Rin and Haruka were incredibly amazing.

* * *

 

Makoto was proud when the three came home. He had had a gut feeling that Rin and Haruka would come in at least 3rd place with their freestyle events, especially the 50 and 100 meter events he was certain of it, but he hadn’t expected for Nagisa to take 1st place in the 100 meter breaststroke event. He hadn’t dared to expect that Rin and Haruka would take 1st place either. He feared it would be to expect too much of them. But he was happy they had come this far in their respective events.

“I want to take a picture,” Rei had said once he also heard of his siblings’ victories. “Makoto, could I borrow the camera?” he asked.

Makoto gave his approval and they had Rin, Haruka and Nagisa line up outside with their medals on. Then Rei took the picture of Rin and Nagisa who were smiling happily, Rin with a proud look on his face in addition, and Haruka looking completely away from the camera.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I kinda feel like I should write an A/N around now. I mean, I used to do it all the time last year but I haven't been writing anything at the end of any chapter lately. I'm sorry if it's a bother, mostly because I'm just writing without having anything to say. Sorry.   
> I really want to make another cup of too sweet coffee but if I do that now, at 21:10, I'm pretty sure I won't be able to fall sleep later tonight.   
> Anyways, felt good to give out some useless information. Thanks for reading (in the unlikely event that you made it this far)
> 
> Jackie


	35. Middle

The cherry blossoms were in full bloom. Spring was in the air. Rin and Haruka were standing by the entrance to Iwatobi Middle School, watching as those who were to become their fellow students were walking around and talking.

”Are you nervous, Haru?” Rin asked while looking at Haruka. The two of them were wearing identical uniforms and to Rin at least, it felt like they were entering a new phase of their lives.

”Not really,” Haruka answered truthfully. As if to underline his point he took the first step into the school campus and let Rin follow him at a running pace. He had no intention of waiting until Rin pulled himself together.

They went to the entrance ceremony held in the grand hall and listened to the principal’s speech and then to speeches made by some of the students. Rin caught a glimpse of Rei, who was sitting near the back with his own class. It didn’t seem like he noticed them though. They didn’t even exchange a single word later on. Haruka hadn’t expected it, but Rin had at least expected a sign of recognition.

Rin and Haruka were in different classes. It didn’t matter much to Haruka, but Rin was not so sure about it. He was sure he would be all right. Of course it would have been better if Haruka had been there too but that wasn’t the biggest concern of his. Seeing as Haruka had been bullied until only a few years ago, Rin was worried that it might happen again, and he didn’t want that.

* * *

 

The first week went by. Rin was getting fine along with all his classmates. He had found a couple of boys whom he got well along with. When he had introduced them to Haruka, they had accepted him easily too. Haruka still wasn’t making any friends in his own class but that was because he didn’t work much for it in the first place.

So about a week after they had started middle school, Rin was gathering his friends in his own class when a 9th grade student knocked on the door and peeked inside.

”Excuse me!” he called.

Everyone turned their heads and fell silent. It was the first time a 9th grader came to their classroom and this was sudden. They hadn’t even started club activities yet, so no one had any idea of what a 9th grader would be doing here.

”What is it?” the female class representative asked politely.

”Is there a Matsuoka Rin in this class?” the 9th grade boy asked.

The girl hesitated and looked around. She wasn’t very good at remembering names and therefore wasn’t sure if she should answer yes or no. She sort of remembered there was a student by the name Matsuoka, but that was all she could remember.

”That’s me,” Rin answered while standing, claiming everyone’s attention.

”Can I speak to you for a moment?” the student asked.

”Sure,” Rin answered and walked out in the hallway. To his surprise, he found that Haruka was also standing there, next to the 9th grade student.

”What are you doing here?” Rin asked, slightly surprised that Haruka had been called out too.

”How would I know?” Haruka asked back, slightly irritated.

”That’s what I’m about to tell you,” the 9th grade student answered the both of them. ”I am the captain of the swim club of Iwatobi Middle School,” he said. ”I saw you at most of the swimming tournaments the two past years.”

”Why is that important?” Rin asked, curiously.

”Why?” the student smiled widely. ”Because you are some talented swimmers. You are both really fast but you also have a lot to learn to become even faster. I have been watching for you guys, to see how you improved over the past year, and I wasn’t left disappointed.” the student smiled at the both of them.

”You’re trying to recruit us,” Haruka concluded.

”That’s right, Nanase,” the student said. ”I want you two to swim with us at the school’s swim club. You will be some very important members to us and we would gladly have you.”

”I’d love to join!” Rin said.

”Amazing!” the 9th grader said.

”I only swim free,” Haruka answered.

The 9th grader looked slightly surprised at that, and then he smiled. ”I see. If that’s a condition, I’ll gladly meet it if it means you’ll join us.”

”So, where do we swim?” Rin asked.

”The school only has an outdoor pool, so we can’t start swimming until it gets a little warmer, until then, we are working out to keep our bodies strong and in good shape,” the student explained to them.

”That sounds like fun!” Rin exclaimed. However, Haruka didn’t look half as optimistic.

”I only swim free,” he repeated.

Rin now also turned to Haruka and sighed. ”You can swim at the SC in the off season, but I’ve read that it’s good to work out during winter. It’s good for you to do something other than swimming anyway.”

Haruka turned his head away. He didn’t want to listen to Rin, but the other could tell that he was giving slightly in, and therefore turned to the older student in front of them.

”We’ll both join you, when’s the first practice?” he asked.

”This afternoon,” the 9th grader answered. ”Meet up by the poolside and I’ll introduce you to the rest of the team.

* * *

 

Rin and Haruka met up and were introduced to the rest of the swim team. There were a lot of students, both from the 8th and 9th grade. They would also be taking in more 9th graders starting the following day, but for now, Rin and Haruka were supposed to show what they could do, and no one were left disappointed.

Nagisa was disappointed though. Rin and Haruka learned this as soon as they came home.

”I thought you promised to be at the SC this afternoon!” Nagisa whined.

”We did,” Rin said. ”But we were offered to join the swim club at the school starting today, so that takes priority. We’ll be coming at the SC when we have the time, but that’s all,” he informed.

Nagisa pouted, but said nothing more. Next year he would be joining the swim club at Iwatobi middle School too, that’s what he decided. He turned to Rei instead.

”Rei-chan, did you know that Rin-chan and Haru-chan would be joining the swim club?” he asked.

”The captain is in my class, so I’d heard of it, yes,” Rei answered.

”Why didn’t you say anything?” Nagisa asked.

Rei hesitated. ”I didn’t think about it that much,” he said. ”I didn’t know he was serous about asking them until he asked me for what classes they were in earlier today.”

”So you told him our classes?” Rin asked, a bit surprised.

”It was easier and quicker for him to just ask me for your classes than go to the faculty room and ask for it,” Rei answered. ”It is no secret that we are family,”

”At any rate, I’m proud of you,” Makoto said as he came in with bowls of rice. ”Not even I was asked to join the swim team when I started middle school. I had to be accepted like all the others.”

“Could I be asked to join once I start middle school?” Nagisa asked.

“Probably not,” Rei said.

“Rei-chan, you’re too realistic!” Nagisa complained.

“Set a few records this year and you might get lucky,” Rin said with confidence shining from his entire body.

“Could I really do that?” Nagisa asked.

Rin nodded with a wide smile. “Just train really hard and you should be fine,” he said. Then he looked to the food and smiled when he saw all the meat. “Can we start eating? I’m so hungry!”

Makoto let out a laugh and nodded. “Go on ahead,” he said.


	36. Graduation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know there are still a few chapters until the story actually ends but the primary part of them are actually also part of Free Parenting, so the last chapters are just there to tie the stories together completely. Therefore I felt like I should leave a note now, seeing as this marks the end of the story before the beginning (Does that make any sense?)  
> Anyway, thanks for reading so far. I'm really grateful. 
> 
> Jackie

It was now just before spring break, in the middle of March. Rin and Haruka were about to finish their first year of middle school, Nagisa was about to graduate from elementary school and Rei was about to graduate from middle school now.

“When’s the date of your graduation ceremony?” Makoto asked over the dinner table one night. He was looking at Rei while asking.

“On Saturday before Spring Break,” Rei answered. “That’s the day when everybody graduates from school,” he said.

Nagisa nodded. He was graduating on that day too and enrolling into Iwatobi Middle like all his older siblings before him.

“That’s the same day as elementary school graduation day,” Rin stated what had already been confirmed by Rei. Nagisa felt slightly irritated about that. Why did everyone have to remind him?

Makoto nodded. “I know,” he said. He was looking between Rei and Nagisa now. It seemed he had realized the problem. “I’ll do my best to attend both ceremonies if possible,” he said.

Nagisa sat up right. “No, Mako-chan,” he said. “You don’t have to attend mine. Attend Rei-chan’s graduation ceremony!” he exclaimed.

Makoto looked surprised. “Are you sure, Nagisa?” he asked.

Nagisa hesitated. He wasn’t happy about this. He had always wanted Makoto to be at his graduation ceremony like he had been with the other three but if it overlapped with Rei’s, what could he do?

“I’m sure,” he said.

Makoto nodded. He didn’t speak of it any further. He could sense how difficult it was for Nagisa to talk about. He didn’t want to make matters worse or anything.

* * *

 

On the graduation day, Rei, Rin, Haruka and Makoto all went to the middle school a little earlier. The ceremony there started an hour before the ceremony at Nagisa’s elementary school, so that was why. According to the plan they would last until around the same time.

Nagisa left the house a little while later, and started heading towards the elementary school. He thought about what role this place had played in their life with Makoto, since all of them were adopted.

Nagisa remembered that when he and Rei were first adopted, Rei had started in 2nd grade and Nagisa hadn’t started until spring the following year. Nagisa remembered how he had been asked to do a family tree not so long after starting school. He remembered how he had started crying because he had no clue of how to draw a tree for the family he didn’t have. Later on he had subconsciously accepted Makoto’s family as his own. Makoto’s parents felt like his real grandparents, Ren and Ran felt like an uncle and an aunt to him. Makoto was his father, no question there. And Rei was the greatest big brother he could’ve ever hoped for. Haruka and Rin had also become his brothers by now.

“Nagisa!” Nagisa turned around as he heard someone run up behind him. It was some of the students from his own year. It was Akito who was running up to him with his twin brother Ayato in toe. Behind them came Yukio, who had gained some weight over the years, and a few others, both boys and girls.

“We’re a handful who decided to walk to the graduation ceremony together,” Yukio said. “Want to walk with us?”

Nagisa smiled and nodded. “That sounds fun,” he said.

And so Nagisa joined the group of kids walking to the school. They were around ten in total now.

“Akito-kun, Ayato-kun, is your family coming?” one of the girls in the group asked.

“Yeah,” Akito sighed. “Both our parents are coming to watch our graduation. I don’t get why they bother.”

“I don’t either,” Ayato said.

“Only my mother is coming,” Yukio said. “My sister is graduating from high school this year, so my father and brother are attending her graduation ceremony,” he explained.

The others started talking about whom of their family were attending the graduation ceremony and as Nagisa had expected he was also asked about this.

“Who is coming from your family, Nagisa?”Ayato asked.

“No one,” Nagisa said. “Rei-chan’s graduating middle school so Mako-chan went to see that, Rin-chan and Haru-chan had to go because they’re already attending that middle school,” he explained.

“Are you okay with that?” a girl asked with pity in her voice.

Nagisa put on a bright smile. “I’m fine with it, I told Mako-chan to go,” he said.

The girl was still looking at him with pity in her eyes as they reached the school building and went to the assembling hall where the graduation ceremony would be held. They all found their respective classes and went to sit with them.

Nagisa was sitting with his own class when a female teacher came up to him and stopped in front of him. She looked to him and started talking.

“Hazuki-kun, is Tachibana-san coming today?” she asked. It was now that Nagisa recognized her as his teacher in his first year of elementary school, Sakamoto Mayu.

“No, Mako-chan’s attending my brother’s graduation ceremony,” Nagisa replied politely.

“Oh,” Sakamoto sounded a bit disappointed. “I was hoping I could speak to him at least one last time, but it looks like that’s impossible,” she said.

“If you need to tell Mako-chan anything, I can tell him,” Nagisa said, smiling at her.

Sakamoto nodded. “Then… please tell him my apologies for what happened seven years ago. I’m still very sorry for that mistake I made,” she said, bowing deeply to Nagisa who looked slightly surprised.

“It’s okay, Sakamoto-sensei, I’ll tell him,” the blonde boy told the teacher who thanked him and left quickly to stand with the remaining staff.

Shortly after, the graduation ceremony began and Nagisa sat and payed attention to what happened around him. He had attended two graduation ceremonies before this one, both Rei’s which had been three years ago, and Rin’s and Haruka’s which had been just last year. Everyone had attended those ceremonies, but he wasn’t attending this one.

There was a speech from students and the principal and Nagisa sat and listened to it all like everyone else. Finally the classes were called up one by one. Nagisa was in class 4, the last class.

When each class had been called up, the students were called one by one and went to get a diploma, showing that they had passed and graduated elementary school.

The final student from class 6 – 3 was called up and when he was done, the entire class went down to sit while class 6 – 4 was called up as the last class. As they walked up, Nagisa looked over the area where families were seated. He couldn’t see his own, but when he looked to where the teachers were, he saw Sakamoto waving at him. That brought him a bit of comfort and he managed to fake a smile.

The students were then called up one by one. Nagisa patiently waited until they reached Hashikawa and then his name was called as the following one.

Nagisa started walking up, feeling slightly sad that he couldn’t hear his family out there. Normally the family would cheer for the child that was graduating, but no one was cheering for him.

But once he was half-way up, he heard the sound of the doors to the assembling hall slamming open and everyone turned their heads in the direction of the four people who stopped once they noticed this. Everyone looked surprised at first, including Nagisa, but when he noticed who it was, his face broke into a smile.

“Mako-chan… everyone…” Nagisa whispered.

“Sorry,” Makoto said. “We’re late, please continue,” then he went to stand in the back, Rin, Rei and Haruka followed him quickly, attempting to be unnoticed.

The graduation ceremony resumed. Nagisa received his diploma and he could now hear cheers from behind him. He smiled. He was so happy his family had made it to see him graduate as well.

After the ceremony, Sakamoto went to deliver her apology to Makoto who just smiled and said that it was fine and long forgotten, which was true. Sakamoto was happy to hear this. They would be leaving each other on friendly terms.

“I thought you wouldn’t make it,” Nagisa said once they all left the elementary school for the last time.

“We wouldn’t have if it wasn’t for the graduation ceremony ending early,” Rin said.

“We ran all the way here as soon as it ended,” Makoto said.

“You didn’t have to,” Nagisa said.

“You’re not fooling anyone,” Rei said dryly. “I could see how much you wanted us to attend your graduation ceremony.”

“You’re easy to read,” Haruka said.

“Honestly,” Rei continued speaking. “You are a selfish brat at times, but why can’t you be selfish when you need to be?”

Nagisa looked surprised, then he laughed. “That’s so much like you to say, Rei-chan,”

This caused everyone to laugh as they continued on walking home together.


	37. Same

It was a nice summer day. The sun was shining from a clear blue sky and it was already pretty warm. You could hear the activity of all the bugs Mother Nature had to offer and the yells from kids playing outside. It was what would be considered a relaxing day at a smaller town. It was at least, to anyone other than the members of the Tachibana family.

It was a Sunday so school was closed and so Makoto, who was now 34 years old, thought he could sleep in piece. However he was wrong as the sound of footsteps was heard in the hallway. Makoto sat up just before the door was torn open and a teen with maroon hair was seen behind it.

“Makoto!” The teen yelled. “Haru has taken up the bathtub and refuses to leave again!”

Makoto got out of bed at that. When Rin said something like that, he had no other option but try his best to make Haruka listen to reason and get out of the bathtub before he disintegrated. Needless to say this was far from the first time he had had to do this.

“He’ll be out in a minute, Rin,” Makoto said before walking to the bathroom. He knocked on the door and entered. “Haru?”

A black-haired teen raised his head from the water in the bathtub to look at his foster father. His face had no expression on it that indicated he had heard the man, yet Makoto could tell he had.

“Haru, you can’t soak in the bathtub all day,” Makoto said as he approached the teen and reached out his hand. “Everyone needs a bath,” He smiled at Haru just as kindly as the tone he used in his voice when speaking to the teen. It was common.

Haruka still said nothing as he grabbed Makoto’s hand and let his foster father pull him out of the water, revealing that he was wearing his swimsuit.

Makoto smiled again as Rin who was looking over his shoulder mumbled:

“Typical Haru…”

Haruka glared at Rin and stepped out of the water. Then he went to get dressed and Rin soon had the bathroom to himself as he could take a bath.

Makoto only just managed to let a sigh escape, glad that all problems were solved, when a loud crash was heard from the kitchen downstairs and he rushed down to find out what was going on.

In the kitchen he found his oldest and youngest adoptive sons. Rei was lying on the floor with a pot next to him and with Nagisa on top of him. The younger was wearing a wide grin while the older had a frown on his face.

“What happened?” Makoto asked worried.

“I was just trying to reach the strawberry jam on the top shelf and then Rei-chan fell,” Nagisa said.

Rei pushed Nagisa off of him before sitting up. “More accurately, Nagisa tried to reach it by climbing unto my shoulders while I was reaching down for a pot…” He corrected the younger’s story.

“Nagisa, you should be more careful,” Makoto said as he reached up for the strawberry jam. “Are you okay Rei?” he looked at his oldest as he handed the jam to Nagisa.

“I’m fine…” Rei said as he fixed his glasses.

Haruka just then walked into the kitchen and Nagisa’s face lit up.

“Haru-chan!” he called as he ran up to the slightly older teen and hugged him tightly. Haruka didn’t respond to this. He didn’t even return Nagisa’s hug.

“You’re at least old enough to drop the –chan,” Haruka just said. This was completely ignored by the younger though and he just held on tighter to his older foster brother.

“So Haruka’s finally out of the bathtub I see?” Rei smiled as he picked up the pot.

Haruka didn’t comment on those words. He just sat down by the table while Makoto took the pot from Rei.

“I’ll make breakfast,” he said and then started preparing it.

“Haru-chan, will you make my breakfast?” Nagisa asked holding out the strawberry jam towards Haruka.

Haruka couldn’t deny the request due to Nagisa’s puppy-dog-eyes and took the strawberry jam before he started making the usual, unhealthy, sweet breakfast that Nagisa required.

Rin made it downstairs just in time before breakfast was ready and the little family had breakfast together.

Makoto was first to finish and as he did so, he looked around at his little family. He truly admired it. There was Rei as the oldest. He was now 17 years old. He was a kind soul and he was smart too. He had an obsession with beauty though that could make some of the things he did, take a lot of time.

Then there were the twins Rin and Haruka. They were 15 years old now. Although they were the only ones related to each other by blood, you wouldn’t believe that when you first saw them. Rin was a happy, dramatic boy who was really good with making friends and really loud at times, while Haruka was dark and silent, antisocial and didn’t show much emotion.

Nagisa was almost 14 years old, a happy and energetic boy who seemed to have nothing to cloud his mind. He was childish but also really smart. He knew how to get his way with almost everyone he met. In fact Makoto had never met anyone who Nagisa couldn’t have his way with.

Makoto himself was the 34 years old, way too kind, man who had taken all four of them in for the only reason that nobody else had wanted them. He kept up a full-time job while he also held the title as full-time single parent.

Nagisa was the only one still eating when Makoto’s phone went off and he went to pick it up. The four teens were left in silence as Makoto went to the living room to answer his phone. Shortly after he came back with an apologizing smile.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “But I’ve just been called out for work. Try not to destroy too much while I’m gone, okay?” he asked before he grabbed his bag and left the house.

* * *

 

The sun was low on the horizon when Makoto made it back. He opened the door with a bit difficulty due to the pizzas he was holding under his arm.

“You’re such a jerk, Haru!” Rin’s voice was heard loud and clear through the entire house as Makoto stepped inside.

“You’re an asshole,” Haruka’s answer was heard only a bit lower than Rin’s loud yell.

Makoto went to the kitchen where Nagisa and Rei were sitting. Rei had his trouble keeping Nagisa by the table where he was clearly doing homework. Nagisa himself was more interested in running upstairs to find out what exactly was going on between his older brothers.

Makoto placed the pizzas on the kitchen table before looking at Rei. “Do you know what their argument’s about?” he asked.

Rei shook his head. “Nobody knows. I’m not even sure they do,” he answered.

Makoto just nodded before heading upstairs. Rin and Haruka were standing in the hallway. Both held up their fists and were clearly about to fight more physically.

“Rin! Haru!” Makoto yelled. “That’s enough!”

Both boys took their gaze from their opponent and looked at Makoto. They clearly hadn’t heard him coming, let alone coming home.

“Now go to your rooms and think of what went wrong and in half an hour I hope you’ve made up,” Makoto demanded.

The two silently separated and went to their different rooms while Makoto watched them carefully. Both of them had their eyes fixated on the floor as they entered their bedrooms and closed the door behind them. Makoto was satisfied as he went back downstairs. He sat down on the other side of Nagisa and looked at the problem in the math book.

“I’ll take over from here,” he said to Rei. “You got your own homework to do,”

Rei nodded. “Yes,” he said before he went to find his own homework and do them. Makoto stayed behind and helped Nagisa with the problems.

Half an hour later Rin and Haruka came back downstairs. Both looked shamefully (as much as what was in character for them) as they sat down by the table.

“Now, what were you arguing about?” Makoto asked the two.

“None of us remember,” Rin said.

Makoto looked at Haruka who just nodded to confirm that Rin was right.

“Well, that’s good,” Makoto said. “Then I guess it’s time for dinner,” He handed out the pizzas for the four teenagers before he sat down with his own.

Makoto smiled as he looked at the faces of his four sons. He recalled that people had warned him about taking them in. He’d been told they were nothing but trouble. Maybe they were right. Even so, Makoto loved these four boys and had no regrets from adopting them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And... Anyone who recognize this chapter? If yes, it's because it's the same as the first chapter of Free Parenting "Trouble" I meant to change a bit, but it all seemed to suit well, even in this story. I didn't want to delete any of it.   
> Anyways, thanks for reading. You are welcome to leave comments, especially regarding the mix between the two previous works of the series and this work. Negative words are better than none. Remember that. 
> 
> Jackie


	38. Changes

It was Monday afternoon, just around 5. Haruka was sitting outside the house by the door to the garden. He was drawing their cherry blossom tree. Although it had stopped blooming months ago Haruka drew it anyway.

Makoto was sitting in the living room, watching Haruka’s back. He had come home around half an hour ago to a house where Rei was helping Nagisa with his homework and Rin and Haruka had just parted ways after an argument about what food was better. Rin demanded that pizza was better while Haruka had stuck with mackerel.

Rei had told that Rin had gone for a run while Haruka had gone to do something else, which Makoto soon learned was drawing the cherry blossom tree.

Rin had returned about 15 minutes ago and had gone to take a bath, now Makoto heard his footsteps on the stairs as he went downstairs and walked into the living room. He made his way past Makoto without noticing him and went to sit next to Haruka.

The twins sat there in silence for a while with Makoto as a silent watcher on the sideline. Rin was of course the first to break the silence.

“You’re drawing the sakura,” he said. “It’s really good,”

Haruka made a small nod with his head. It was so small that Makoto could barely see it from his position.

Rin sat in silence then again, just looking from the cherry blossom tree to the drawing and back at the tree. He was most likely comparing the two. After a while Makoto decided to walk up and sit next to Haruka as well, make the twins aware of his presence.

“I’m glad to see the two of you know to make up on your own,” Makoto said, smiling at Rin and Haruka who both looked at him in surprise. None of them had noticed him. Both got over it quickly though.

“Yeah, we’ve gotten better at it,” Rin said. He turned back to look at the cherry blossom.

Makoto looked down at Haruka’s drawing. “It really is good, Haru,” he said as he studied it. It almost really did look like a real cherry blossom tree.

Haruka nodded, letting that being enough to show his gratitude.

They sat in silence for a while. A cool breeze came from the ocean making the warm day just a bit more comfortable. Makoto closed his eyes. He forgot the worries that had kept him down ever since he left the hospital earlier that afternoon. But now they made their way back into his mind. He would have to tell the boys sometime soon, but it couldn’t be now. Not yet.

“What’s wrong?” Haruka had turned his gaze from the nearly finished drawing, to Makoto’s face. He had noticed the expression of slight worry and thoughtfulness that had appeared.

“It’s nothing to worry about,” Makoto opened his eyes to meet Haruka’s. “I’ll tell it at dinner tonight,” he continued. Then it was set. He’d have to tell them about what was going to happen.

Thinking about dinner, that was something he’d have to get started on about now. It was already getting pretty late. Makoto stood up and went to the kitchen to start preparing their dinner for the night. Fried rice and mackerel. He knew he would earn some popularity in Haruka’s eyes from this. Mackerel was Haruka’s favorite food after all. However, he wasn’t sure of how the others would feel about the dish planned for tonight.

About half an hour later they were all ready to eat and Makoto called on his family as they could have their dinner together and he could break the news to them.

Nagisa was in a good mood. He was talking about all his friends and a funny thing one of his classmates had done today. It was something about a frog. Nobody really paid attention, but Rei pretended to be interested in the story though.

“There was something you wanted to talk about,” Haruka said. His quiet voice brought everyone to silence and they looked at Makoto.

“Well…” Makoto started hesitantly. “You all know I’m keeping a full time job as a doctor in the local hospital, right?” he asked. To this all four nodded. “For a while we have had some financial trouble and now it has turned into a crisis where the hospital has to be closed,”

“What’s that going to mean?” Rei asked, looking shocked. He’d thought the economy in a hospital was stable and nothing could go wrong there.

“It means that some will be fired, others will be transferred to different hospitals,” Makoto said.

“Which one are you?” Rin asked.

Makoto looked down at his plate. “I’m the latter,” he said. “I’ll be moved to a job where I have to work a lot more for a lot less than my current job,”

“Where?” Rei asked.

“Somewhere nearby?” Nagisa continued with his mouth full of rice.

“Don’t speak with your mouth full, Nagisa,” Rei informed. “I’ve told you before,”

“I’ve got a job in Tokyo,” Makoto said. “I’ll be working from 7 in the morning to 7 at night,”

“So… We have to move?” Rin asked worriedly.

Makoto just nodded. “I’ve already found an apartment there,” he said.

“When?” Haruka asked.

Makoto thought for a bit. “On Friday next week I think,” he said before checking his phone to see. “Yeah on Friday next week, just before your summer break starts,”

Everyone nodded. None of them really liked the idea of moving. They all enjoyed their lives here at Iwatobi but there was no other option it seemed. Makoto would have to move if he wanted to keep a job so far away. It would take them a while to get to Tokyo anyway. An entire day if they remembered correctly.

With those disturbing news in mind everyone left the table to think for themselves for a while. To believe that such a small thing as a financial crisis at a hospital could mean so much to someone’s private family life was almost unbelievable, yet here they were in the middle of it all, facing the fact of having to move away from the place where they’d all been living together for the past six years.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again the chapter is just the same as the one from Free Parenting. I really hope you don't mind that too much.   
> It is the last chapter where it'll be an entire copy and the second to last chapter of the story, so I hope you've all enjoyed it. I'll make a longer A/N tomorrow (Whether that's a threat or a promise that's for you to decide)  
> Thanks for reading
> 
> Jackie


	39. Farewell

“Ryugazaki!” a boy from Rei’s class called as Rei was packing up his things on Thursday afternoon after classes had ended. Today was his last day of school here at Iwatobi High School.

Rei turned his head to look at his classmate. He remembered him. They had also been in the same class in their third year in middle school. Back then, he had been the captain of the swim club. He had been the one who had recruited Rin and Haruka.

“What is it?” Rei asked.

“I overheard the teachers mentioning that you were transferring school. Is that true?” he asked.

Rei nodded. “Tomorrow, my family and I are moving to Tokyo,” he answered politely.

“Nanase and Matsuoka too?” the other asked.

Rei nodded. He had known from the start that this was his classmate’s concern. Rin and Haruka had been the stars of Iwatobi middle school’s team since they started. They still were. Everyone who was leading a swim club at any high school had an interest in the two of them. His classmate was no exception. He was very likely to become the next captain of this high school’s swim club next year and had plans of having Rin and Haruka join as soon as they started up again.

“Yes,” Rei answered. “Rin and Haruka are part of the family, so of course they’ll be moving with us.”

The other student sighed. “That sucks, I really wanted to have them on my team again,” he said.

Rei smiled as he lifted his bag on his shoulder. “Who knows, maybe you will end up swimming against them instead,” he said before leaving the classroom for the last time.

* * *

 

The following day was the day when they would move. Makoto had sent their furniture on ahead and now it was their turn to move. They would be on their way from a little before noon and until late in the afternoon. Makoto had prepared a bento for each of them and had packed it along with the other few things they would need during the train-ride.

As the family reached the station, in due time before the train would depart, they saw a group of people standing outside, waiting for them.

The group consisted of Makoto’s parents, Ren and Ran, a few of Makoto’s former colleagues and other people who had heard that they were moving and wanted to come and say goodbye.

“What are you doing here?” Makoto asked, surprised. He clearly hadn’t expected that anyone would be there. He and the others had been at his parents’ house the other day and had dinner with them, Ren and Ran to say goodbye.

“Of course we would come see you off,” Makoto’s mother said. “You are all members of our family after all,”

Makoto couldn’t prevent a joyful smile from appearing on his face. “Thank you,” he said happily. He hadn’t expected them to come, but regardless, he was very happy that they did.

“We’re sorry you have to move, Tachibana,” one of Makoto’s former colleagues said kindly.

“It can’t be helped,” Makoto answered. “The hospital is closing and the only other option for me would be to find a new job. I’m not sure I would’ve been able to do that.”

“You’re lucky,” another colleague said. “You’ve become one of our best doctors, so of course you were transferred instead.” She smiled. She had been fired and had to find a job on her own now.

“Perhaps I am…” Makoto said. “But at least you can stay here in a place you know.”

“I’ve never been to Tokyo before,” Nagisa said while tugging Makoto’s hand. He looked up at the colleague whom Makoto was speaking to.

“None of us have,” Rei said while pulling Nagisa back as he wouldn’t interrupt Makoto’s conversation again.

“Rei-chan’s mean!” Nagisa whined.

“When’s your train departing?” Makoto’s father asked Rei.

“At 11:54,” Rei answered.

Ran checked her watch. “Aren’t there only 10 minutes left until then?” she asked as she looked back up at the others.

This caught Makoto’s attention and he looked away from his colleagues and stared at Ran instead. A horrified expression was on his face as he realized that there was a chance they would miss the train if they kept standing here.

“We need to get going and buy the ticket!” he said in a slight panic. This caused his mother to send Ran a reproachful look.

Makoto and his four adopted sons grabbed their lockage and carried it to the platform where the train would depart from. Most of those who had come to say goodbye, stayed behind. Only Makoto’s parents, Ren and Ran followed them all the way.

“Remember to call at least once in a while,” Makoto’s mother said as she hugged her oldest son tightly.

“I’ll do,” Makoto answered as he returned the hug.

“Take care of our big brother, okay?” Ran said as she let go of Haruka, after hugging him. The teen only nodded in response but even Ran could tell from his eyes that he would do his best.

“Don’t cause too much trouble,” Makoto’s mother told Nagisa as she hugged him.

“I’ll be good,” Nagisa promised with a wide smile.

“Do your best and study hard,” Makoto’s father told Rei.

“Of course,” Rei said not feeling like he had needed to promise that, but he did it anyways.

“I’m sure you’ll make some good friends in Tokyo too,” Ren said to Rin, who nodded.

“I’m sure we will too,” he said.

Then the family boarded the train without any more trouble. However, when the train was about to leave the station, Nagisa ended up curling up in Rei’s lap while crying like a baby.

“There, there, Nagisa,” Rei said softly as he comfortingly stroked Nagisa’s back. “We’ll be just as happy in Tokyo as we’ve been here,”

The comfort sort of helped. Nagisa’s cries got a bit easier for a moment, until Rin started sobbing too. This caused Nagisa to turn to his crying ‘older brother’ and hug him instead and Rin hugged Nagisa too while they were both crying.

Haruka looked out the window with a distant look in his eyes, simply watching the landscape passing by. He tried his very best to ignore his crying embarrassing twin.

“Why’re you crying?” Makoto asked concerned.

“We’re leaving so many good memories behind,” Rin sniffed as he turned to Makoto.

“We all met here and have lived here for so long,” Nagisa wiped his eyes, though it didn’t help much since tears kept running down his childish looking face.

“Don’t be upset,” Makoto placed a hand on Nagisa’s shoulder while smiling at both him and Rin. “I’m sure we’ll create just as many good memories in Tokyo as we have in Iwatobi,” he said.

Slowly but surely Makoto managed to comfort Rin and Nagisa enough so that they won’t cry. From then on, the rest of the ride went fine. Before they knew it, they were in Tokyo and on their way to their new home, ready to begin a new life with new friends, new problems and with new future goals.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here's the very last chapter of the story, and possibly the last chapter of the Free Parenting series. I have no intention of writing more unless there is something you want me to write for this universe, like how it was at the orphanage, before Rei, Nagisa, Rin and Haruka met Makoto or what happens in the future after they move out. But I'm not writing it unless you want to me. If you do want it, leave a comment or send me a message and I'll consider it.   
> Wit that being said, I really enjoyed writing this series, it has been about a year and a half since I started and over a year since I published the first part. I had a fun time while working with this.   
> I'd like to thank you all for favoriting and following, and just for reading the story. It means a lot to me that you took the time.   
> I normally speak a bit of my next work here, but I don't realy know what it'll be and you probably don't care. If you do care, then you will find it anyway, I'm sure.   
> That's all for now. 
> 
> Jackie

**Author's Note:**

> This is... like the prequel to Free Parenting. As you may have noticed, if you have read Free Parenting and Future Parenting, then I have reused the flash-back part and added a bit more detail to it. This continues throughout the story. Though, not all parts further explanations of some events, there are also entirely new events introduced that are not mentioned in the other stories.  
> I have nothing more to say. 
> 
> Jackie


End file.
